Romans chapter 13. Before we look at some words given to us by the Apostle Paul, preserved by God for this moment in time for us, let us pray and ask the Lord to guide us in our study. Let us pray again. Our blessed Lord and Savior, we truly believe your promise that where two or three are gathered together, there you are in the midst of your church. And you have revealed to us that you did love and lay down your life for your church. And so we are here as those that you have loved with an everlasting love, those for whom you died. And we desire this morning that you would exercise your shepherdly care over us. You know each one of us. You know the various needs with which we come into your presence. And so you and you alone can instruct your people. You and you alone can bring that statement of truth that they need to hear, that statement of truth that will help them in the coming days. And so we commit ourselves into your hands, into your care. We are here as your disciples, as those who want to learn, those who want to do better in living for you. For your namesake, we ask these things. Amen. How might you respond if someone loudly said to you of a morning, Wake up! Time to get up! I doubt if I would be wrong in saying that a number of you hate to hear that kind of talk. You hate to hear that alarm clock go off. In fact, your arm is automatically trained. It goes over and it hits that snooze button. And it can go over again and hit that snooze button. You hate getting up of a morning. You are simply not a morning person. But again, there might be a few here who hear the words, Wake up! Time to get up! and you arouse, and you lay there a moment, and you think, boy, I've got a lot of things to do today, a lot of things to accomplish. And so you get up and get with it. Those words aren't so bad for you to hear. But then again, there's a few of us, and even here, just a few, a very few, When we might hear the words, wake up, we shake and say, I didn't know I was asleep. I guess I dozed off. That happens to a few of us, doesn't it? Perhaps of an evening you're watching television, you doze off, your wife says, wake up. Or I can tell on myself. I may be sitting at my desk reading or in my reading chair and I have the book and I have the marker. I might even have a tablet and a pen to make notes. I'm that old. And I'm looking at those words and I'm thinking about those words and all of a sudden I just kind of nose off. My wife comes in, Are you asleep? Oh, well I guess I am. I just dozed off. You see, I was at the right place and I started off being engaged in the right thing, but then I just dozed off and I became really unproductive. Well, can we make that kind of an application to the Christian life, to the spiritual life of a Christian? Is it not possible from time to time the believer kind of dozes off, and he's not really productive. He's not really fulfilling his responsibilities. He's not really doing what he should do. It seems that perhaps the Apostle Paul hints at that in our text for this morning. And so I shall read verses 11 through 14 of this thirteenth chapter. Paul says, and do this, knowing the time. that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in reverily, in drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Amen. This morning we shall primarily focus upon the 11th verse. And in so doing, we'll start off by thinking about an admonition. The Apostle is admonishing here. I suggest he's admonishing to us, make sure you obey apostolic instruction. Make sure you obey apostolic instruction. You notice how the text starts off, and do this. And yes, in some English translations, the do is italicized, meaning it's not literally in the text. But nonetheless, the words that are used there, this is a very good way to translate it. And do this, do this. And so we naturally ask the question, well, what am I supposed to do? He says, do this. Well, there's two possible ways to interpret it. I'll take both of them. First of all, when he says, do this, and remember that when Paul wrote, you didn't have chapters and you didn't have verses. It was all big paragraphs. And so he says, and do this. Well, it's easy to interpret that to mean that all that is preceded, he wants us to do. Well, what precedes this? And do this. Well, he's talked about this matter of loving my neighbor. And he says, love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore the love is the fulfillment of the law. And so he's saying, do this! Do what I've instructed you. And you remember we looked at this section last time, how it started off in verse 8. Oh, no one anything except to love one another. And we made mention, some interpret this and use this verse to say, you should never get in debt. Never get in debt. And if you do, you guide the Old Testament seven years at the most. Don't allow yourself to get in debt. Well, we looked at some Old Testament and we thought, well, that can't be the absolute way to do it. It's nice if you can live without debt. That's fine. It should perhaps be a goal of everyone. But he says, you can't live without any debts because there's one debt you're going to have all of your life, you're going to pay on it every day, and you're never going to get the receipt that says paid in full. What is the debt? Love my neighbor. That's what I'm to do. I'm to love my neighbor. And first he starts off, love one another. That would refer to our fellow believers. Then he expands it to my neighbor. Well, how do I love my neighbor? And you remember we went over that. Love's not a feeling. Love's not an emotion like all we think about today. Oh! I have this love. Love has reference to obedience. And it has reference to obeying God's law. I want to love my neighbor. Well, here's how I love my neighbor. I don't commit adultery, or we interpret it to mean this. I have respect for his marriage. I have respect for his family. I have respect for his life. I have respect for his reputation. I have respect for his property. And I'm not envious because he's more prosperous than I am. That's how I show love to my neighbors. What he said, do this. Now, I wrote out some instructions here about loving one another, loving your neighbor, and hereby shall all men know you are my disciples, you have love. Do this! But did we go back far enough? Previous to this, didn't He give us some instruction about civil authorities? About civil government? Didn't He instruct us, you are to be subject to the governing authorities? And we talked about civil disobedience. As long as I'm not required to absolutely violate a commandment of God, I submit myself. Yes, there's corruption that takes place in government that God has ordained. The early church, you were supposed to burn some incense to Caesar and call him Lord, and the Christian says, No! Jesus is Lord! And we're to obey God rather than man in such a situation. But other than that, I'm to be submissive to the powers that be. God has ordained human government for the well-being of society, you see. Oh, you say government is so corrupted, is so bloated. That is true. But it still basically functions according to God's rule here. And we need to remember that civil government by and large is under the operation of ungodly men. And it's very simple. Sinners act like sinners. That's the kind of people that run the government. Sinners. So you expect that. But then he goes on. Do this, he says, submit yourself to those authorities. And we talked about the power of the sword and about capital punishment. Then he says, you know, pay your taxes. Render therefore to all their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Pay your taxes. And that really rubs us raw, doesn't it? Paying those taxes. So much of that tax money, it's just so wasted. And I work hard for my money. Pay your taxes. There are benefits from paying your taxes. A lot of benefits. For example, recently here in the valley, there's been this shooter on the I-10. And people are upset and rightfully so. And what is said, the police better get him. They better get him. We expect them to do that. I call 911. I expect them to be here. Well, it's believed that they have caught that shooter on the I-10, though he denies it. But you know, to catch him, it took a lot of manpower. It took a lot of hours. And you know those men and women involved in capturing that man? They're just like us. They need to eat and drink and have a roof over their head and have clothes. In other words, it takes money. Our tax money. So what's he saying? Pay your taxes. Quit trying to cheat. Quit trying to wiggle out from under your responsibility. Do this! Here is apostolic instruction. Do this. But should we go back any farther? Well, I think so. In fact, you know, we could go back to the very opening words of chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this world. but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." And so what he does, he gives us instruction after that as to how not to be conformed to this world. And he speaks to me about my relationship to fellow believers in the church, the use of gifts. He speaks to me about this matter of getting along with those in society. And then he brings in this, Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. In other words, I am not to engage in personal retaliation. That's hard, isn't it? Do you have a difficulty with that this week? What someone said to you, what someone said about you, you heard about. How did you respond? Love them to pieces. No, no. We'll pay them back. This do. No personal retaliation. And so we look here at these opening words of verse 11. And surely it makes us to look back. But we can look ahead if you like. And what is He telling us? Don't be sleepyheads with reverence to responsibilities. And then he speaks about casting off that works of darkness. And darkness, yes, evil things, but also darkness refers to this ignorance of God. And we have a society extremely ignorant of God. That's why they live the way they do for one reason. But he's saying to us, you no longer have that much darkness, because I've given you some instruction. This do you cast off the works of darkness. And he brings it on down of various things and he says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill itself. This do! That's what he's saying in that concluding statement. make no provision for the flesh for those lusts. We have a tendency to do that, don't we? We know good and well what stirs up certain lusts within us. We know it all too well. Sometimes there's no struggle. We simply expose ourselves to it. Thus do Stop it! Put it away! And so we could reflect upon this matter. How obedient have I been this past week to this apostolic instruction? How well have I really loved my neighbor? The positive aspect is doing good. Love does no harm. What good did I do to my neighbor? And he rattled off these commandments, and certainly we know that those also touch the heart. Do not commit adultery. Well, I wouldn't do that with my neighbor's wife. No, but it could be when you see her out in the yard doing work with her shorts on, you peek out the window and say, hmm, what's that? What are you doing in your heart? Love your neighbor as yourself. So here we start off. Do this. Obey the apostolic instruction that I have given to you and that I am yet to give you. In other words, we are to be an obedient people. Or you remember what James said? Be not simply hearers or readers. but you be doers. And so the apostle is urging upon us, do the Word of God. Obey this instruction that I have given to you. He was an apostle. He had that authority. He was to be obeyed. To this day, he is to be obeyed. And so we start off with this admonition. He's admonishing us to be obedient to what he said. But then we'll look again at our text and what do we see? Well, he tells us that we're to be alert. Alert to the dangers and the opportunities in life. Alert to the dangers and the opportunities in life. You know what he says here? Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, Knowing the time, have an understanding of the time, and the word time there, it's used in various ways in the New Testament. It may have reference to a large, large span of time, or to a particular segment of time, and most believe here it has reference to that particular segment of time in which they were living. Take heed, understand the time in which you live. Be alert. There are dangers. Be alert. There are opportunities to do good, to help spread the gospel. Just like today, we have to be alert to the dangers, but also alert there are opportunities to spread God's truth, you see. And so you notice again what he says. It's high time to awake out of sleep. Now do we take that in a literal sense? Did the apostle Paul have some information that, as regards the congregation there in Rome, that when an elder would stand up to read, some of the people would just go to sleep, and they were supposed to go over and say, hey, you wake up! You know how easy it is to go to sleep, isn't it? I don't think that's what he has reference to. I think he's using it, you see, in a figurative way. Awake out of sleep. he should be applied in a spiritual sense to our lives. What's he referring to? Well, I think he's referring that it's possible for a Christian, and I'm going to assume that all of us have experienced it here, that with reference to our spirituality, with reference to our service with the Lord, we can really get lazy. We can really get drowsy. we can become very, very sluggish about doing what we know we should do. And doesn't the psalmist in Psalm 119 cry out again and again and again, quicken my heart? Do we not need to cry, O Lord, quicken my heart and mind? I come to worship, I come to the prayer meeting and I am so dull. That happens because of the remaining corruption. That happens because of the activity of the devil. And we need prayer. We need God to help us. And so what he is saying here is, you need to wake up. Shake yourself out of that spiritual slumber, that indifference, that laziness to what you ought to be doing. And is there not a sad example of someone engaging in thoughts and laziness and they got in trouble? You're all familiar with the story of David. It's the season when kings go forth to battle. David stayed behind. You know, there had been a lot of battles and a lot of success, a lot of blessings. He's going to relax. And he's going to rest. And that's not kind of a blanket condemnation of a man having a right to rest. Jesus said to his disciples, come aside and rest a little. But there was something else. He just lays around. He thought he was supposed to take care of the things of the kingdom. He laid around. He gets up on his balcony and looks out. You know the story. You know the sad story. Lazy, indifferent, sluggish. It gets us all in trouble, doesn't it? We need to stay awake. And so He says here, doesn't He? You notice, AWAKE! And that's another way of saying, I've got to stir you up. Stir you up! And you remember what Paul said to Timothy with reference to his gifts. He said, therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you. Timothy, you've got this gift, but you just can't relax. You've got to keep trying to develop it and sharpen it and improve it. With reference to our Christian lives, we just can't lay back and say, well, I've made it so far. No, no. Keep stirring yourself up, reminding yourself who you are, reminding yourself of the devil and all the pressures and the lusts of the flesh. Stir yourself up. And then again, remember the words of the Apostle Peter. In that second letter he wrote, he said this to the people. He said in verse 12 of the first chapter, for this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right as long as I'm in this tent, that is His body, to stir you up by reminding you. And so he admits, you people know all this. I've told you before, but I'm going to repeat it. And isn't that basically the same thing when you come to church? You don't hear anything. Oh! Never heard that before. No, you hear truths repeated again and again. But we need them repeated. Because how quickly they slip away. How quickly we fail to put them into practice. Or again, Peter put it out this way. He brings out the fact that he needs to stir us up. Beloved, I now write this second epistle in both of which I stir your pure minds up by way of reminder. We need to be stirred up. We may think we don't. One of the reasons for not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the Apostle says in Hebrews, you've got to exhort one another and encourage one another. And you see, if you just keep laying out and laying out and laying, you're not making any spiritual headway. We all need to be constantly stirred up. We need to be pushed. We need to be shoved. We need to be reminded of how quick things slip away and how easily we fall into particular sinful habits. And so he says, you better wake up. And so it's addressed to us. Awake. Remember. Stir yourself up. Get out of sleep. But then in the third place, you notice from the text, there's an advancement here. An advancement. Believers are always advancing toward that final kingdom. Believers are always advancing toward it. You notice what it said. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. It's nearer. And of course, what to grapple with is that word salvation. What does he mean when he uses that term here? Well, you see, it's used in more than one way in the New Testament. The basic meaning of the word is a deliverance. So what does he mean? For now our salvation or our deliverance is nearer than when we first believed. Well, again, that term salvation, it may be used in a very broad, long, comprehensive sense. At the beginning of our book, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God, what, unto salvation. From beginning to end, it is the power of God unto salvation. And we can look at various places, and there is as soon as a person believes, He is saved. He is delivered. He is delivered from guilt. He is delivered from the power of sin. He is imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He is a saved man. And so a man can say, well I, best of my understanding, I was saved perhaps at such and such time. And indeed you were. But then add to that, we can say with reference to salvation, We have been saved, we are being saved, and we shall yet be saved. I am saved, I am being saved, I shall yet be saved. You've seen a hint of it when you look at Paul's letter to the Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 18. He says, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, and that's a proper translation in a state of perishing. It is taking place. But then you notice, but to us who are being saved, being saved. It is the power of God. A man is saved. He is being saved. That sanctification is going on. And then he shall be saved. Saved at the resurrection and the glorification of the body. We sit here as saved people, but yet we are going to be saved. Salvation will be complete. What does he mean here? Well, I interpret it to mean that he has referenced to this matter of our salvation is nearer than we first believe. Our salvation is near. We enter into the presence of Christ when we die. And then if you want to bring in the resurrection and glorification, fine. But what he's saying here, I believe, it seems to fit the context. He's referring that our salvation is near. That is, that salvation that will be ours when we die and enter into the presence of Jesus Christ. It's near! It's nearer than when you first believed! How near? I don't know. That's all in the hand of God. But it's nearer than when you first believed. And for some of us, when we first believed, That's not too long ago. And again, for some, it's years and years ago. And so we can look back. We've covered a lot of ground. And what can we say? I am where I am today by the grace of God. Look back! You've been through some horrendous trials. great difficulties, a lot of heartbreak, a lot of surprises. But here you are. The grace of God is all sufficient. Our salvation is near. And so I can look ahead, look to the future. How long do I have? I don't know. That's none of my business. But are there not some things I need to do? Just in light of some of the things we went over this morning, is there not a particular area of my sanctification I really need to work on? By the grace of God, I'd like to make some real improvements on it. Looking ahead, There are some things I really need to work on. Some things I need to attempt. Some people I probably ought to contact and talk with. There are just a lot of things I need to do. What ways can I help spread the kingdom of Jesus Christ? I need to look ahead. And to be like the Apostle Paul in labor He was a man who said, I labor more abundantly than they all simply because I know Christ is going to return. Simply because I know I'm a saved man doesn't mean I just sit on my behind. No, no. God calls people to work. He calls people to be active. Do I not have some decisions I need to make? I need to really work on them. Maybe get some advice. Because you see, my salvation is nearer than I first believed. I don't know how near. Be a couple of days. Maybe years. You don't know either. But the point is, you be active. You be busy. You serve the Lord Jesus Christ, you see. I read a story. It was about a minister, and this was back in the 1800s. He rode horseback, I believe it was 13 miles, to see one of his flock on her deathbed. And they carried on a conversation, and certainly he believed that she was in a state of salvation, had lots of assurance. He looked at her and he says, you know, you're older than I am, but I'm old too. I don't know how much longer I have, but there's something I want you to do. When you're in the presence of the Lord after you've praised Him and adored Him, I would like for you to say hi to the four Johns. Four Johns that have meant a great deal in my life. I want you to say hi to John the Apostle. I want you to say hi to John Calvin. I want you to say hi to John Knox. And I want you to say hi to John Bunyan. And you tell them, Old Fotsiwot will be there soon. Now whether she delivered the message, I don't know. He had that confidence. The lady had that confidence. Time is short. Salvation is near. And all of us have a lot to do. All of us see it. It's messages like this that make us to consider our priorities, right? Reflect upon our lives. And that's good for us. That improves us. We have much to do before the salvation comes. Amen. Let us pray together. Our blessed Lord and God, we thank You that as believers we are in a state of salvation. And as we reflect upon our lives, my, how sufficient Your grace has been. My, how patient you have been with us. Oh, how you've taken away so much ignorance, and you've filled us with much truth. Help us as your people to walk in the light of it. Help us, Lord God, to be busy. Help us with reference to this matter of dozing in the faith. Might we be alert, men and women, and find great delight in serving You. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.