Well we come to the second section of Romans 13 tonight. So let's open there. We'll read the passage in a moment. Remember what's been written and what Paul's taught us so far. He's taught his readers the way of salvation. the way of forgiveness of sins, justification by God, by His grace, His undeserved kindness through faith in Jesus Christ and His shed blood. That's what he's taught us through 11 chapters. Beginning in chapter 12, Paul has begun to show us the way of sanctification. He calls us to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God. And that's a 24-7 calling. Manifests itself in different ways. Within the church, serving one another. Outside the church, asking God's blessing on those who persecute us. Praying for their deliverance from sin. For their repentance. For their salvation. Our Lord desires that we live in a Christ-like manner in this fallen world. That we endure all things for His glory and for the sake of the gospel. And He has equipped us to live in this way. This is a frequent theme of Paul's. We see it in 1 Thessalonians 5, 15. We see it in Peter, 1 Peter 3, 8. And Paul tells us even when we are being unjustly treated, we are not to seek revenge. Look at 12.18. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Chapter 12, verse 20. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Peter tells us, 1st Peter 2.12, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles. And we could spend our entire hour reading passages that teach this very same thing. Now Paul's core teaching here is in all things, including as we saw in the last week, Including it, our relation to the state of the Christian to the state is to live out the Christian faith in obedience to God for His glory. To present our bodies, a living, a holy sacrifice acceptable to Him. So anytime you're reading anything after chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, understand you're reading it in light of chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. What God has already done in us and for us is our motivation to respond and live in the way that He now demands. A Christian has been chosen of God, awakened to new life, given a new heart. He's had his sins forgiven. He's been justified by God. And he's been given the assurance of glory. That's a pretty good package, isn't it? and by the gift of faith, and by the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, God has equipped His people to live in the way that He wants us to live. Don't say, that's not me. Don't say, that's not my personality. He has equipped us to be what He wants us to be. In this passage, tonight Paul sets forth another motivation to live in the manner that God demands. Now in chapter 13, the first seven verses, we saw this. And I'm going to briefly summarize this. Christians are to be in subjection to the earthly governing authorities because those authorities have been ordained and established by God for our good. At the same time, Christians are not required and do not have a duty to obey wicked rulers when they call us to disobey God. There are times when a Christian must obey God rather than men. And when we do, we must be prepared for the consequences. There may be a penalty for disobedience to the civil authority. But in response to God's grace, and that's the basis of all of this teaching that Paul has been making beginning in chapter 12. And for His glory and for the sake of the gospel, we must submit ourselves to the civil authorities, even though we may be and often are repulsed by much of what we see in our civil authorities. So in those first seven verses of chapter 13, Paul wrote concerning our obligations as individual Christians to the state. Now, beginning in verse 8, he is concerned with the Christian's obligation to all other people. To his brethren and to his neighbor in and out of the church. So verse 8, Paul turns back to our relations with people, not with authorities. Verses 8 through 14, Paul makes these points. I'm going to summarize them before we start into them. First, we are all debtors to everybody else. We owe it to them to love them. That's our debt. Our obligation to the state was to pay taxes, to render them respect. Our obligation to everybody else is to love them. It's an ongoing debt. Second, loving one's neighbor is the way one fulfills the law of God. The law of God isn't thrown out because you've received grace. The law of God is still very much in effect and always will be. The negative prohibitions that we find in the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, are summed up in the positive command to love our neighbor. Now this is going to include a lot of people we may not like. This is God's command. Third, we must live, and in this way, in expectation of Christ's return. This is what we see in verses 11 through 14. This means no longer living in such a manner that does not demonstrate love to others. Whether we don't like the way they look, the way they smell, their skin color, that's not the point. We are to love everybody. And this means ceasing from the works of darkness. He lists carousing, drunkenness, sexual immorality, strife, and jealousy as among those deeds of darkness we must all put off. So whatever sin you're doing, and it manifests itself in your lack of love for somebody, get rid of it. Fourth, the antidote to those deeds of darkness, to those sins, is to put on the armor of light. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's our passage, 13-8. O, nothing to anyone except to love one another. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. not replace the law, fulfill the law by loving your neighbor. For this you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, and there are, it is summed up in this saying, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this, knowing the time, that it's already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. For now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone. The day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly. Let us walk honorably, honestly, as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. This first verse, owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. This verse is not about borrowing from others. Jesus did not forbid borrowing or lending. We see that in Matthew chapter 5, verse 42. Scripture does teach that we should not leave debts unpaid. That they should be settled promptly. But these words are not about borrowing and lending. These words build on verses 6 and 7. In reality, they build on verses 1 through 7. But in particular, verses 6 and 7. There we see we owe it to the governing authority to respect it and to pay our taxes. But the only thing we owe and will always owe to others is to love them. This is a debt that God says we owe. The sense is maybe best captured in the NIV here. Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another. That's what he's telling us. Love is a permanent obligation. It's a debt that is impossible to forever fully discharge. It's a duty of every believer. Lenski says the obligation to love is new every morning like the light of another day. It doesn't go away. You cannot pay this one off. So the only debt you have to others is to love them. Pretty big debt, isn't it? It arises from the fact that we're all made in the image of God. We're all kinfolk descended from Adam. And here in verse 9, we see that Paul sets forth four of the commandments. But they're there representatively of the rest of the commandments of the second table of the law at least. 7, 6, 8, and 10. In that order he lists them. Jesus did that as well. And he summarizes them in the same way that Jesus did. you shall love your neighbor as yourself. These commandments relating to other people add up to a command to love all others. No escape hatch here. No footnotes. And he's talking not only of the brethren but of our neighbor, all men. And he says, verse 10, love does no wrong, no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, he says, love is the fulfillment of the law. You want to keep the Ten Commandments? Love your neighbor. The prohibitions that we see in the commandments of God help to show us the way in which we demonstrate love for our neighbor. Now so we understand, He doesn't say that love takes the place of the commandments. Not at all. But that the commandments are fulfilled when we love others. In other words, you shall love and therefore not commit adultery, but rather preserve the sanctity of another's marriage. You shall love and therefore not murder your neighbor. You shall love and therefore not steal from your neighbor. You shall love and therefore not covet that which belongs to your neighbor. But of course, love is not merely a list of don'ts. It's a list of do's. Because this shows us that at the root of every one of these negative commands, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, is a positive command. Thou shalt love. Now some people it's easy to love. Some people it's very difficult. The first thing we better understand, again here, is what does love mean in the context of Scripture, in the context of the moral law of God, which it fulfills. Biblical love is not the same thing as the way the world defines it. And we've seen this before. The world defines love as having to do with feelings, with an emotional attraction to another person, a spouse, a child, a parent, a close friend. And to a degree, so does biblical love. But biblical love encompasses something else and more important. Biblical love is also and primarily defined by conduct. We love somebody. It's an action verb, loving. For example, back in chapter 5, verse 8, God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's love. Scripture. Love emanates from the heart. It must originate in the heart, but it's defined by conduct. Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 5.21 in the Sermon on the Mount. You've heard that the ancients were told, you shall not commit murder. And whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. Now look at how Jesus shows us what's really behind this commandment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. And whoever says to his brother, you good-for-nothing, shall be guilty before the court. And whoever says, you fool, shall be guilty, enough to go into fiery hell. So murder includes anger, hatred, and condescension. Matthew 5, 27, you've heard it said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. In these words, Jesus is showing us how love or the absence fulfills or fails to fulfill the commandments. How the absence of love leads us to fail to do what He has called us to do. One who murders his neighbor obviously does not love his neighbor. But neither is one who is angry with his neighbor or who thinks his neighbor a fool. If you think that, and we all do at times, we break this commandment. We break the commandment that's underneath it too, the commandment to love. So Paul says, love does no wrong, does no harm to a neighbor. No, it's contrary. Love greatly benefits the neighbor. That doesn't mean it's a legal requirement. This is all after salvation, after the indwelling of the Spirit, after conversion, after grace. It's a right response to God's grace. This is the response He wants to see in us. And love has been given to us. It has been shed abroad in our hearts by God through His Spirit. Romans 5.5. So he says, love your neighbor as yourself. Seems kind of a given. Most would say everybody loves himself. But we've got it here in Scripture as well. It's a certain thing that a person will love himself, will forgive himself, will overlook his faults. And it's also certain that he has many of these faults. Now look at Ephesians 5 29 in your Scripture sheet. Look at this as an example here. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church. So anyone who hears these words and says, Well, I don't really love myself. Well, Paul's operating principle here is everybody does love themselves. And so if we love ourself with all of our faults, then Paul says we must certainly also love our neighbor despite his faults. May not like him, but God demands that we love him. And that we should do so regardless of what we perceive as our neighbor's shortcomings or our neighbor's faults. Now you say, did this just show up after grace came? No. It wasn't a new commandment that Paul was setting forth here. This has been God's way and God's command from the day of Moses. When God first set forth His moral law in written form. Leviticus. Chapter 19, verse 11. You shall not steal. We recognize that in the command. Nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. Shall not swear falsely by my name, so as to profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. Wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God. I am the Lord. You shall do no injustice in judgment, shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord. You shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart. You may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Jesus spoke this same truth when a lawyer asked Him a question, Lord, which is the greatest commandment? Matthew 22, 35. One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question testing him. Teacher, which is the great commandment of the law? And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. Love God, love your neighbor. Paul wrote the same thing. Galatians 5.14, For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And James chapter 2, verse 8. James 2, 8. If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. To love our neighbor is to reflect the love of God, for God is love. And God has shed abroad His love in our hearts by His Spirit. 1 John 4, 8, The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Now I want to remind us of what we all know so well. What our job description is in this world, in this life. It's to be salt and light in this world. It's to be those in whom the good news of salvation through faith in Christ shines. and is spread in the world. That's our job description. It requires in the providence and wisdom of God that we love those people out there. Jesus said, Matthew 5, 16, Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Now I touched on this. I want to go back to it for a moment here. It's not merely taking the physician's oath, the Hippocratic oath of do no harm. It means being actively engaged with others, actively serving others. That's what love is. We don't get to just have positive feelings to replace our negative feelings with positive ones. It means to actively serve others. Galatians 6.2, bear one another's burdens. Can't do that without being involved. And thereby fulfill what? The law of Christ. The law hasn't changed. The law could never justify anybody. But the law is still there now that Christ has come into our hearts as our rule for life. And the law is summed up in this. Love others. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love, as I said, is not in Scripture what it is in this world here in Babylon. The world has come to view love as what? As tolerance for the sins of others. We tolerate whatever sin he's engaged in out of love, they say. The world thinks it's unloving to call sin, sin. If you call sin, sin, you are a hater, a bigot, God says we must call the world to repent of sin. If somebody doesn't know he's engaged in sin, how can he take even one step toward repentance? The world misunderstands the biblical concept of love just as it misunderstands all things of God. As it misunderstands the origin of the universe. As it misunderstands the creation of man and man's eternal destiny. Genuine love. Genuine love as taught in Scripture is seen in fulfillment of the moral law of God. characteristics of love. Paul provides these in just a wonderful passage in 1 Corinthians 13, beginning in verse 4. Love is patient. Love's kind. It's not jealous. It does not brag. It's not arrogant. It does not act unbecomingly. This is if we were looking for how was to tell if we are living in a loving way. It does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered. That's the same principle that we've seen here in Romans 12. It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. So Jesus, on the night before He died, several times reinforced this whole principle. John 13, 34, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And then these words in verse 35, By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 15, 12, he says it again. This is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. Calvin says here, Paul demonstrates by the effect that under the word love are contained those things which are taught us in all the commandments. For he who is endued with true love, Calvin says, will never entertain the thought of injuring others. 1 Thessalonians 5.15, See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another. Always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Peter describes this way of living. First Peter 3.8, to sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, humble in spirit. You say that's not my personality. Paul says that needs to be your personality. That needs to become your personality. Not merely in manner, but within. Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. For you were called for this very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. So if we think about love as the fulfillment of the whole law, then love must be as broad as the law itself. Love covers the whole of the law, and the law has respect to all our relations with all men. This is how we are to live. We don't shove the Ten Commandments aside because God's grace has come. No, love does not displace the law. Love fulfills the law. This is how we fulfill those Ten Commandments. Paul's appeal to the Decalogue shows us the continuing and perpetual vitality of the moral law of God, of the Ten Commandments for Christians as well as for unbelievers. And I want to say this as well. There's no substitute here for loving your neighbor. There's no works you can do that will exempt you from Jesus' command to love other people. This is how God's people are easily recognized. They love others. An active verb. They are kind. They are gentle. They are compassionate to others, particularly in the church. The world says, as long as I don't harm anyone else, I'm okay. I'll just stay over here. That's not God's way. No. God's way is to actively love others. Love fulfills the law, not avoidance, not doing no harm. Doing no harm does not fulfill the law. Loving others fulfills the law. Love can only flow from a changed heart. Well, Paul then is going to make an application of this, which is itself an application of the entire first 11 chapters. He says, do this. Do all these things. It may go back just to this command to love. It may go back to all of chapter 12 and the first half of chapter 13. Do this knowing the time, that it's already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. What's he talking about? Well first of all he says, do this, love your neighbor knowing the time. What time is it? It's already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. Paul is seeking here to awaken Christians from their sloth. He wants to wake us up. Sleep or slumber here is a metaphor for sloth, for sluggishness, for procrastination, for indifference. It denotes a lethargic Christian life, not a vibrant, loving Christian life. Thomas says it suggests the thought of forgetfulness of God. Paul says it's already the hour. We are already in the age which is going to culminate in the return of Christ. That's what he's talking about here. And the inauguration of the eternal age. We're already in this present age. Christ speaks of the present age and the age to come. We're in the age which will culminate in the coming of Christ. We're hurling toward that day. Christ's return, we don't know when it is. But He wants us to live as though it's this afternoon. He says salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. Salvation is spoken in the New Testament of something that's been accomplished in the past. We have been saved. It's in the present. We are being saved. And in the future, we will be saved. Here, it's the future that's in view. Salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. Peter speaks of this, 1 Peter 1.5, as the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Paul's saying that salvation in all its fullness, the redemption of his bodies, as he called it earlier in this epistle in chapter 8, is nearer to us than at the time we first believed. He says the night is almost gone. This is the time of night. The day, the day of judgment, the day of God's wrath is near. Paul speaks of the present world age here, the fallen world as the night. The night is almost gone. What Jesus called this present evil age. The day is near, he says. The day is the eternal day that begins with Christ's return. When for some, the everlasting day of glory and blessedness will begin and go on forever. And for others, the eternal day of misery will begin. That's the day he's talking about here. We're still in the night. We're still in the darkness. Although Christ, the light of the world, has entered in and shined His light in the darkness. So the point here, first of all, is that ever since we first came to faith, that day has gotten nearer, day by day by day. We are a day closer than we were yesterday. 1 Peter 4, 7, the end of all things is near. All of the New Testament writers use this kind of language. Seven times the apostle John records words that say, I'm coming quickly by our Lord. I'm coming soon. Revelation 1.1, Revelation 1.3, Revelation 22, on more than one occasion. So Peter says, "...the end of all things is near. Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." Now, what many think this means here, what Paul's getting at is, in the unfolding of God's redemptive plan, there's only one great event that's left to take place, and that is Christ's return, which we sang about tonight. He's coming back to judge the living and the dead. He's coming back to bring many sons to glory with Him. And there's all these passages, Luke 12, 35 and following, most of Matthew 25, James 5, 9, 2 Peter 3, 10. All of these teach that we must always be living in expectation that Christ may return at any moment. Although no one knows when that day is. And we're certainly told in Scripture that there will be a time of the Gentiles that comes to an end and a time of the Jews that will come. But that could be a brief time. The point is we don't know and we should live in expectation every moment that He might return. So let us not live the way those are who are still in spiritual darkness. Let us live as people in the light. And this is what he says here in verse 12. Therefore, the rest of verse 12, Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness, because the day is drawing near, and put on the armor of light. Now what are the deeds of darkness or the works of darkness? They're wicked works. And he says they must be decisively put off by every believer. That's all of us. Paul sets forth many of these deeds of darkness in Galatians chapter 5, beginning in verse 19. Let's take a quick look at them to refresh ourselves. The deeds of the flesh, the deeds of darkness are evident. immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. You got any of those in your schedule? Get rid of them. Put them off. Set aside the deeds of darkness. The Christian is to put on the equipment that is suitable for life as a Christian. The armor of light. This is a common metaphor for Paul. We see it in Ephesians 6 most notably, I suppose. But the point is this, folks, though we are living in the dark night of this world, we're out here in Babylon. The Holy Spirit, who has regenerated us and indwelt us, calls us to put on the weaponry of light. Light refers to God. And look at the armor, the weapons that Paul tells us about when he writes to the churches in Ephesus. Ephesians 6.13, Therefore take up the full armor of God, you'll be able to resist in the evil day. ...having done everything to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth... There's one. ...having put on the breastplate of righteousness a gift from God... There's two. ...having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace... There's three. ...in addition, taking up the shield of faith... There's four. with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. I keep saying, God has equipped us to live the way He has commanded us to live. And finally, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. There is nothing more valuable to us than the Word of God. And let us remember something, folks. What we learned all the way back in the earlier chapters here, especially in chapter 6. We have been freed. Freed. Delivered from the power and the dominion of sin and darkness. So let us not become careless, become negligent, and let us not yield to temptation. Rather, let us walk honestly, walk honorably, becomingly, as in the day. This isn't the day of judgment. This is as in the light. Let us walk honorably as in the day, not in carousing, not in drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, Paul's alluding to the fact that sinners will often do things, commit sins, under the cover of darkness that we would not commit openly, as in the daytime. Paul is saying act when no one sees you the same way you would act when others can see you. And this has reference not only to our outward acts, but to what's inside us, our inner thoughts. Do we want people to know our hateful thoughts? I hope we don't. Walk honestly, becomingly. This metaphor of walking that Paul uses, it's to speak of this continuing day-by-day, minute-by-minute progress that should characterize every Christian. And He equates all of these sins with darkness. Darkness. All of these sins, every one of them, if you look at them, they flow from self-will, from selfishness, and from self-indulgence. They seek only one's pleasure, regardless of how these things might affect somebody else. How does your drunkenness affect somebody else? How does your sexual promiscuity affect somebody else? How does your strife and jealousy affect somebody else? These things are all pure selfishness. So since we know, knowing this, He said, do this, knowing that the time has already come. Knowing that the time has already come in which we should be awakened from our sleep. Somebody's got to be living like Christians in this world. Let it be here. Let us cast aside whatever belongs to the night, Calvin says. Let us shake off all the works of darkness, since the darkness itself has been dissipated by the first advent of Christ into the world. He's come in and shined His light into the darkness. And let us attend to the works of light and walk as it becomes those who are enjoying the day. We equate light with Christ. And this is what Paul says in verse 14. But put on, don't do these things, don't walk in these sins, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed in His righteousness, and make not provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. What's this mean? We use this phrase, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to live in light of the fact that one has been united with Him in the likeness of His death and His resurrection. This is what it is. Living like Christ is what it is to be united with Him in His resurrection life. And He, in case we need reminding, is holy, blameless, undefiled, and separate from sin. And so should we be. We put on Christ in two ways. First, when we were converted by God. First, as the garment of our righteousness. That's justification, which is done when we appropriate the truths of the gospel by faith. And second, now we put on Christ as our armor. We live in this world as our weapons for this spiritual warfare against sin and leading to our sanctification. So we put on Christ first in reference to our righteousness and second in reference to our sanctification. Paul isn't saying put on Christ and be justified here. He's saying put on Christ for your sanctification. Ephesians 4.24, put on the new self. which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness and truth." Colossians 3, 9. Don't lie to one another. Don't lie to one another anymore. You laid aside the old self with its evil practices. You've put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him. Live in the light that He has cast into the world. Because He has cast this light into the world. He's cast it into our hearts. The light that will come in its fullness and in its permanence when He returns in judgment and glory. Throw off that spiritual sluggishness. Throw off your spiritual slumber. Live in the light of Christ. Put on all these weapons that are necessary for this campaign. Put on Christ Himself who lives within you. Each day that we awaken, we're another day closer to that final day. Let that truth stir us to godliness. Foreman put it simply. put into very simple English. Paul is saying, don't plan for sin. Give it no welcome. Offer it no opportunity. Kick the sin off your doorstep and you won't have it in the house. Calvin says this, even the heathens have said that the appetites of men are insatiable. Everyone then who wishes to satisfy the desires of the flesh must necessarily not only fall into but be immersed in a vast and deep gulf. Paul is setting a bridle on our desires here. He reminds us that the cause of all our intemperance is that none of us is content with a moderate or lawful use of things. So he lays down this rule that we are to provide for the needs of our flesh, but not to indulge its lusts. make not provision for the flesh in regards to its lusts." In other words, don't provide yourself with opportunities for sin. You have enough of a challenge. We all have enough of a challenge with the lusts that are within us. Don't compound that by providing ourselves with opportunities for sin. For those lusts to be activated. Avoid those things and avoid those people who are likely to lead you into sin. Sixteen hundred years ago, A man read these last two verses 13, 13, and 14. 386 A.D. Augustine of Hippo. He read these verses, and as he read these verses, God converted his heart. Gave him new life. He became one of the great theologians in the history of the church. Relied on by men such as Luther and Calvin. Relied on today by many. Particularly as to the doctrine of justification by faith. God used this passage to bring home to Augustine both the reality of his sin and the reality of salvation through faith in Christ. And Paul has now shown his readers in this passage, this same passage, a second motivation to live in godliness. The first one looks at who Christ is and looks back to what He has already accomplished for us. New life, new heart, forgiveness of sins. A declaration of righteousness before God. But this second one now points ahead to the day of glory. A day that is drawing nearer every day. And it's by the gift of faith that we take hold of all of these truths. So, though we don't know the hour of our Lord's return, it could be within the hour. We need to learn from these words of the apostle, not to slumber, but to live in expectancy of His return. And to set aside those things that offend our Lord, to put on Christ, to love our neighbors, both in thought and act, to behave honorably, as though everyone can always see whatever we're doing and thinking, always looking to the day of glory when He comes to gather His people to Himself and bring many sons with Him to glory. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, please impress these words on our heart. bring transformation within each one who hears these words. I'm sure, Lord, we all have distances to travel to meet the law of love as You've presented it to us here in Your Word. So Lord, pierce our hearts with this Word And Lord, by Your Spirit, continue to stir us to be what You desire us to be. In Christ's name, amen.