Here we are on 7-15-2020 July the 15th And I want to know have you got your taxes done folks because you had a three-month extension of time To do your taxes. I wonder why people are talking about doing their taxes. I thought that was due in April 15th. Normally, there's Jenny Arbrecht. Howdy howdy And Lacey Curry is coming in here already. And then some of these folks are tuning in. I'm really thankful for all of you that are tuning in today because it's such a beautiful day. And if I were in your shoes, it would take discipline on my part to sit still because I don't want to be outside enjoying this incredibly beautiful day. It's a little soggy out there in my grass, but it sure is pretty. So I was just commenting to Dean that I am very politically uncorrect tonight. Those of you that are watching, you can see that I have my red pen here and I know in the world we live in that anytime you take a pen and start making marks with it on paper with red, it's just not the right thing to do. And especially if you're a teacher, you can't use a red pen because that's just not supposed to be done. So hello, Ryan Otterberg. I hope you're feeling better. I haven't heard Recently, but we've been praying for you, buddy. Hope that you're able to keep going. And Marilee and Jim, Jim, I just read your text about your uncle passing away. I am very sorry to hear that. I hope that the Lord upholds you and your family with his grace during this time. And Jenny Armbrecht, you are in a van driving, watching. I don't know if this is a good idea or not. She's leaving Grace Ballet. That's not no offense, J. That sounds like just something you would do. It does. It really does. You know, it's getting bad, Dean. I can see with my glasses on, but I can see with them off. If I put them on and then I need them off, I get into that place where I can't see either way. Hi, Joni Voss. How are you? And Bev Warden. It's so good to see you guys tuning in. I can't see you. I say that. That's sort of ridiculous. So good to see you. I can't see you, but I can see your name, and I know you can see me. I don't know whether you're being rewarded by being able to see me or not, but in any event, hey, Pam Ackleson, did you and Roy find everything you were looking for at Sam's Club the other day? Now, you are aware that if you go back to Sam's Club, you've got to wear the mask now. That's new. As of today, I think starting Friday, you've got to have a mask on at Walmart. And at Sam's Club, I guess all of Walmart's umbrella companies, you've got to have a mask. So we will all look like villains from now on when we go to these places. Hi, Mardell. How are you? Well, I had a question for you on this afternoon as we were getting started and getting ready for the table talk tonight and you know I had commented I don't know who sang it I don't know when it was but I remember working at the lumber yard when I was a Boy, and I would remember they'd blast music over the loudspeakers out in the yard where I worked. And the, one of the songs that they would play all the time was What the World Needs Now. So that's the name of my, that's the name of my lesson tonight. We're in week four, Relationships in Christ, What the World Needs Now. And obviously you can all fill in the blank. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. Somebody out there is going to inform me. Oh, yeah, it was so-and-so. It already happened. So on the promo video, Rich Schmidt filled us in with the info. It's Jackie DeShannon. Okay. And the song was made in 1965. Okay, so kind of dates me a little bit if I was already working in 1965. Okay, so very good. Hello, Lisa Tully, good evening to you too. And Marilyn Youngs, good to see you. Good to see your name on the screen here. So my question is this, everybody's talking about love today, and I'm not sure anybody really understands, but in the context of Christianity, when the Bible says love one another, What does that look like? What does it look like when the Bible says to love one another? And I do believe what the world needs now and I think The instructions we get from the scriptures tonight, even the passage we're going to be studying, says that exactly. What the world needs now is love, and the Bible even calls for it. The Lord calls for it. So the question is, what does it look like? I mean, how does that work out? Now, we can just scratch the one called Eros just completely away. Hey, Travis Paulson, good to see you. Just scratch the idea of Eros. That's one of three words, four actually, but mainly three words used in the New Testament in Greek that is all translated love. And of course Eros is the sensual love. And so you know it's not talking about that. So what does it look like for us to love one another? No, I see what Bernie Lyle says. Bernie Lyle says it's grace extended. What did Dan say? I'm sorry, I gotta tell you. Dan Wolhoff said, should we greet everyone with a holy blown kiss? Dan, you're a little bit feisty tonight. I better get Paulette on you over there and get to straighten you out. So he says, are we supposed to greet each other with a holy blown kiss? All right, so it's time to get started on this. So if you have your Bibles, I'd like you to go back to this book of Romans that we've been looking at and the series that we're doing right now is Applied Salvation. It's one thing to be saved and to understand saved and being saved. receiving the Lord, but what does salvation mean and how do we get our salvation experience and what God has done for us in Christ? How do we get it off of the pages of scripture and onto the pavement of life? Virginia says, treating people the way God commands us to is the definition of Christlike. Well, that's awesome. That's a good answer. And a bunch of folks watching us already tonight, y'all keep passing the word. If people have forgotten, pass the word around because this is a really important subject we're talking about. So let's get right at it. Now, what does God want from us? I almost asked that question tonight in a general, I thought it was too big of a question. And that's kind of what we have been looking at beginning at Romans chapter 12, verse one and two, based on his incredible, sacrifice and the redemption that we have in Christ, what does God want from us? What does He ask from us? Well, let me just summarize it. God wants a relationship with us where we respond to His gift of salvation by offering Him all of us. God doesn't want a half sacrifice. He wants a whole living sacrifice. He wants us to offer our body, you know, the whole thing. We wrestle with the idea. God wants all of us. We're familiar with Luke 9 23. It's one of my more often referenced scriptures. Jesus said, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. Well, to daily pick up your cross means you daily you're dying to your own You're daily dying to your own goals and you're living for Jesus. So, but let me give you a new verse that maybe you haven't thought about before. And it's Luke 11, it's also in Matthew, but I'm going to call it out in Luke 11, 23. And that verse says this, he who is not with me is against me. And he who does not gather with me scatters. Wow, that's quite something, isn't it? That's one of the more powerful verses. Now, he actually gave that verse in conjunction with his talk about the unpardonable sin and also seeing Satan fall from heaven like lightning. But he makes this statement, he who is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me scatters. That's a pretty bold statement. It may be the clearest statement of Jesus' expectations of his followers given anywhere in the Gospels. In other words, from the lips of Jesus, that's probably the strongest statement he ever made. He says, if you're not with me, you're against me. Then he even goes further, and if you're not whole hog gathering, helping people come into the kingdom, then you are scattering, man. I'm not going to go into that too much because I'm going to use that passage as something to preach from on Sunday morning here. I'm not going to overwork it, but God wants us to cross the line. He wants us lock, stock, and barrel. He wants all of us to be with Him. So that has to do with the vertical relationship. What does God want? He wants all of us. He wants a living sacrifice based on His sacrifice of His Son. He wants us lock, stock, and barrel. All right? Then that's the vertical relationship, but what about now? We've been reading and studying about the horizontal relationship What does he want in the horizontal relationship? Well verses 3 through 8 we already studied that what is the right relationship to the body of Christ or my local church? What's the right relationship well? I'm to offer my service humbly and faithfully in my area of giftedness so that the body lacks nothing at all." Boy, that's a very important statement. And then, well, that's my relationship with the body of Christ. And then we saw, what does God want concerning my relationship with the people around me? So that was chapter, verses 9 through 21 of chapter Number 12, 9 through 21, what should my relationship be with the people around me? Well, I'm to love the people of my life, serving them, meeting needs with unfeigned love. Even the opposition that we face needs the love of God, and we're supposed to overcome evil with good by living at peace with all men as much as is possible, and we're not supposed to take personal vengeance. So this is what love does in the relationship with the body of Christ. It serves humbly. And what does love do in relationship with the people around me? Well, I serve the people in my life with unfamed love. I don't fake it, I make sure that it's real. Here's Christy says, love is giving yourself to help someone else see a need and fill it. Boy, that's a tremendously, tremendously well stated definition. All right, and then we come to the next section. What should my relationship be with my civil authorities? How do I apply love to my civil authorities? Well, I should recognize the authority and hence the person that is appointed by God in that authority. I should pay taxes and dues to support their efforts and provide security, to provide security and civil discourse in daily life. We could go read 1 Peter 2, 13 to 17 on the subject, which I'm teaching on Friday morning, 1 Peter right now, and it's amazing. In the same week, the same subject came up, both in Romans and in 1 Peter. Now, today, I want us to get right at this. We come to another group of people with whom we relate, and they are our neighbors. our neighbors. Jesus spoke on this one very clearly in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Now there was a snarky lawyer that came up and tried to weasel his way out of actually having to help somebody in need and so when Jesus says this is the great commandment you're going to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself You all know what he asked. He says, okay, I hear you. Now, who is my neighbor? Which one? Which, you know, some of these neighbors, you know, they're not very deserving of my help. And so, which neighbor? And Jesus clarified what it was to help your neighbor by pointing or by telling the story. of the good Samaritan. And so the answer then and now is that God, is the person who God brings into our life, in whose life you can meet a need, that is the person that we're supposed to love. And I think you're starting to find out the definition of love in our relationships. I think you're talking about having this agape love that God has poured out in our hearts and helping reach and help and relieve other people and do what is Good for them and to give them help and at their point of need now So the first thing I want you to see now as we get into this and we're going to read chapter 13 verse 8 through 14 Let me read it and then we will get right into it. Okay verse number 8. You've got your Bibles Oh, no one anything except to love one another For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, all are summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, Love is the fulfillment of the law now. That's one section the next section of the passage and do this I wish you'd go ahead and underline that in your scriptures and do this, you know love doesn't just feel love does and Christians don't just have sympathetic feelings toward the world and toward people in need and Christians do something. Now watch. Do this. Knowing the time that it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than 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 and not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. What an amazing, amazing passage of scripture. Isn't that interesting that in the middle of this passage where he's talking about the relationships of our life and loving people, he stops and says, and oh, by the way, this is very, very important. Your testimony has gotta be credible to the point that the people that you're trying to do something for in the name of Jesus believe you, they believe your message, and they believe what you're trying to tell them and do for them. So I've got two sections. I think verses eight through 10 break down this way, and that is love people like you mean it. Love people like you mean it. So if we look back at chapter two in verse nine, I said that was the heading of everything, let love be without hypocrisy. So the subject is let's talk about love and how you're supposed to love in your relationships. And he says, don't be hypocritical. That was the heading of the rest of the applied salvation section. Love one another focuses on love for the Christian community. Loving your neighbor has everyone in focus, believer or not. This is an amazing teaching in this passage of scripture. We have already been told to love our enemies, so we know that it's beyond just believers that we're supposed to love. Chapter 12, verse 20 told us that if our enemy is hungry, feed him and all those things. If he's thirsty, give him a drink. In doing so, you heap coals of fire on his head. Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Jesus even said we're supposed to love our enemies. So this is, it's very clear that he is speaking about loving not just our Christian brothers, although that's a special category, we're supposed to love other people. So the word love and the meaning of it comes more and more into focus when we see all of these groups We're supposed to love our civil authorities. How do we love them? Well, we love them by obeying. Let me go on and showing. So here's these words. The word that is chosen in this passage is the word agape. It's not philostorgoi. which is loving devotedly. It's not Philadelphia, which is brotherly love. And we already said it's not Eros, which is sensual love. It's the God class of love. It's agape. And this was the kind of love that was poured out in our hearts And it gives us the ability to be able to obey this law. Back in Romans chapter 5 verse 5, Paul wrote that God had poured out, that is abundantly given, His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. So we have a new capacity. And I didn't even think about this when I was preparing this and thinking through it. But the love that God is asking us to have in our relationships is not something that we can literally work up. It's not in our nature. I don't naturally want to just go do something good for somebody who is trying to do me evil. You know what I'm saying, Dean? It's not natural. It's not natural to do these things. It's supernatural. Of course it is because it's this love of God that was poured out abundantly in our heart the day that we called on Jesus to save us. And so what does love look like? This is what it looks like. It looks like when God's love in our heart swells up and it enables us to be able to do things for people who don't deserve it. And you were teaching on this. You taught me about this in one of your discipleships. You were saying the person was saying that the real definition here is showing grace. And you were saying that the person was kind of surprised when they understood for the first time that not only can God show grace, but that his children are also supposed to be gracious and to show grace. And you were telling me about that today. Do you have any comment on that? What is that concept? Isn't that really love? Love is showing grace? So, yeah, basically the idea is that the characteristics of God aren't exclusive to him. He doesn't say, I'm the only one that can love and show grace and be merciful and forgive. I've done these things and now as my children I want you to go do these things. He gives us grace and we can show grace. But of course it's because of his grace. So we can be loving because we have been loved. We can show grace because we've been given grace. That's right. We've been graced, and so we can show grace. You know what I'm saying? So I think that's really, really kind of cool. All right, so let me go into this and talk about this a little bit more. So here's what we learn in this section. This is verses 8 through 10. The first thing I'd like you to see is love is an unpaid debt. It's an unpaid debt. Let me read it. It says in verse number... It says, owe no one anything except to love one another. Now, the idea of debt comes from the verses right before it where we owe obedience and submission to our civil authorities, or there's a sense of debt. And so it's an unpaid debt that we have. We have one debt in our life that we should continually be trying to pay, but we'll never get it paid off. Now I don't know about you, but there's just something I love. Whenever they stamp something that I've had to pay on, they stamp it paid in full. A couple of, three or four times, I've actually paid off rather long notes on automobiles and it's kind of awesome. They stamp that thing paid in full. It's a car loan, man, it feels good. Bonnie and I did that one day on a Ford Windstar and within a week, wrecked it, totaled it, had to go buy another one and had new debts again. Did they do that on the church loan? Yeah, we did. We had paid in full. And I've never been able to pay a home off, but I'm hoping the one I'm in now, I'm going to get paid off soon. And well, sooner than later. And so that'd be awesome. But you know, there's one debt, folks. There's one debt that we always work on that will never pay off. And here's what it says, owe no one anything except. Here's the one debt you're permitted to have on a continual basis and never get paid off. You have to, we're supposed to recognize that we are indebted to love because we have received this abundant love. Now Karen Whitmire is wanting to know what scripture. This is Romans chapter 13 and verse 8 and following. So love is an unpaid debt. This theme of debt has been surfacing in Romans. Let me just show you this. This isn't, I mean, it's sneaking up on it. And I have to admit, as I was reading it, it didn't, it didn't, it wasn't until I got to this point that I went back and said, well, is this a theme? Well, it is. Think of Romans 1 14. It says we are in debt to the unbelieving world. And he says it this way. I am debtor both to the Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise. And so what does that mean? I'm in debt to the unbelieving world to give them the gospel. Then here's another debt. In chapter 8, verse 12, he says, we are in debt to the Holy Spirit. Well, how is that? Well, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. We are indebted to the Holy Spirit of God. And then 13.6, we just read it a moment, or last week, we are in debt to civil authorities. And verse six says, because of this, you pay taxes for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. And then the very next, the very first verse of the next section, verse eight says, don't owe anybody anything. Don't owe anybody anything. but to love them. All right, so the Bible, now I wanna clarify something because there are people, even famous preachers that teach the Bible forbids borrowing and loaning money. You can never borrow, you can never loan, you can never be in debt, not for a house, not for a car. The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible even gives instructions about debt in the Old Testament and about how usury or exorbitant interest is an evil in God's sight. But investing and in borrowing and lending, what's wrong and what God condemns is not paying off honest debts. If we make a debt and we don't pay it off, then pay it off. If we can't pay it off, make arrangements to suspend the payments and then pay it off later. If we don't do that, then we're disobedient. So I want to clear that up. The Bible does not forbid borrowing. But here in this passage, it's not really about finances. It's about being indebted to God for his unfathomable love. And then the beneficiaries of our indebtedness or the payments that we make on our indebtedness are not directly to God, although they're ultimately to God. The recipients of our payments of this debt are the people of our lives. In other words, to love God and to make the payments on the love debt The beneficiaries are the people of our lives, and it's a debt that we can never pay off. Let me give you a little proof of this, and I'll just make this statement. To love God is to love our brothers and sisters, is to love other people. That's what it means to love God. Loving God is primary. but the secondary and the consequential relationship of loving God is that we're going to love other people. Let me give you an example. John 21. In John 21, Peter had made a mistake, had gone back to fishing, and we won't go into that story, except Jesus hunted him down. He loved him. He said, Peter, I called you to do something, and you've gone off and You're fishing again. Come on now. Come on in here to the shore. And he said to him, he asked him three times, Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Really got embarrassing. He just kept asking him, do you love me? Do you love me? And what did he say? Dean, you know what he said to me? If you love me, what are you going to do? You're going to feed my sheep. Isn't that interesting? In order to love God, we have to take care of his sheep. Now, I understand that was in a pastoral situation, and he was the primary apostle at that time, and so he had a special case. However, the principle is the same. That is, if we love people, we're going to tend people. Do you love me? Three times. And then Jesus said, then feed, tend, care for my sheep and lambs. And so to love was to serve the needs of the sheep. Paul said it a little bit differently, but the same essence in Galatians 6.10, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Primary responsibility, our brothers and sisters in Christ. But that doesn't mean that our brothers in humanity that are in need, we should not do our best to help as we have opportunity and ability. And so that is very, very important. So somebody's going to say, boy, that's going to be a hard thing to do. Well, as opportunities arise, we're supposed to do good, help, relieve, share, encourage, support, evangelize, disciple, and in general, love the people of our life. Now, folks, in this time of technology and finding out about the sad state of affairs all over the world, you can become overwhelmed with the idea, oh, everybody's hurting. People are hurting everywhere. I don't have enough time, money, physical ability to help everybody everywhere. And we can't even carry those things. We've got to remember the Savior of the world is Jesus. We're not the Savior of the world. Jesus has shoulders big enough, God has shoulders big enough to care for the whole world, but he cares for the world in small portions, one by one, and he does it through the people like you and me. We can help care for the whole world, but our world is where we're planted, and we have to look at the people of our life. And you say, well, this is hard to do. Of course it is. And only agape love in our heart can help us do these kinds of things. I could stop here and say, you could ask me, say, Pastor Phil, how are you doing on this? I need as much prayer and repentance in my heart as anybody else, because sometimes I see needs and I pass by on the other side. But this is what we're supposed to learn. We're supposed to be taught of the Lord, taught of the scriptures, and this is what he is saying. So here's something else. So love is an unpaid debt, and then love is the fulfillment of the law. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Verses 8 and 10 both say this, and let's be real careful. The law of love is the ultimate fulfillment of the law. It is the summary of the law. It is the rational and logical end of the law. But let me put it this way, a person can obey without loving, but they cannot love without obeying God. Love is very, very important in the sense of this agape love It is an obedience to the Lord, and some people can grit their teeth and obey God in many areas without really loving, but you really cannot love without obeying. You say, well, how do you know that? Because Jesus said, if you love me, and you folks listening can finish it. keep my commandments. So Paul uses in the passage, let's read it, look at it there in chapter 13 again, he says, you fulfill the whole law, verse number eight, for the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet. If there's any other commandment, all are summed up in this saying. So Paul uses four of the Ten Commandments in his teaching here. Those commandments are named in order. Here's how they're named. It was the Seventh Commandment, adultery, the Sixth Commandment, murder, the Eighth Commandment, theft, and the Ten Commandment, coveting. I mean, he didn't put them in order. He didn't quote them exactly the way that they were put in the Old Testament. He just named them. Now, the first half or table of the Ten Commandments, centers on our relationship with God. In other words, Numbers 1 through 4, Thou shalt have no other God before me. Thou shalt not make of thee any grave and image. Thou shalt remember the Sabbath and keep it holy and all those things. Those have to do with our relationship with God. But the next six, Number five through ten have to do with our relationship with other people. So Paul pulls from the second half, he pulls four of them out, and he mentions them to the people. The second half of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, emphasizes our relationship with other people. So here's what we have to understand. In the most famous Ten Commandments in all of the Bible, Six of the ten have to do with our relationships with the people around us and that we're supposed to have loving relationships. Paul adds something else, if there is any other commandment. Now do you see that in there in your scripture? It says there, and if they all are summed up, and if there is any other commandment, all are summed up in this saying, love your neighbor as yourself. You say, well, what in the world is he talking about there? Well, let's ask a question. Is there any other commandment? Well, yeah. There's six more commandments right there in the ten. Then there's, you know, the Pentateuch's got hundreds of commandments. And then we know that there's even more commandments than that. He just got done talking about us being obliged to keep the rules of the civil authorities and to pay the salaries and fees of the ones in office. So there are many, many, many more commandments. And so we're supposed to live in obedience to those that are in authority over us, and we're supposed to live in obedience to the commandments of God. And here's what Paul says. Paul says, Jesus said it, Paul said it, they all say it. The law, all of the laws, are consummated and summarized in this one. Love your neighbor as yourself. And this is so amazing that he put it that way. You can love your neighbor as yourself. Now this isn't a one-time statement. Leviticus 19.18, don't take vengeance nor bear grudge against the children of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord. Out of Jesus' mouth, Luke 10.27, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Paul said it again, Galatians 5.14, for all of the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, somebody's going to say, boy, that's good. I just really, really, and you hear this all the time, and half the psychologists, Christian psychologists in America even, will say, well, yep, what's wrong with people is they don't love themselves enough. They just really need, if you get self-love correct, then you, if you can accept yourself and have a good self-image and just love yourself, then man, you're really going to be able to function. So let's, let's get some classes and let's talk about Loving ourselves, you know, get over your nose that you don't like your nose, get over your hair color, you know, get over your stature, get over, you know, what you can't do, get over your jealousies and all those things. Just love yourself, you know, baby yourself there. And so that is not at all what this passage of scripture is teaching. I mean, he's taking it for granted that we already nurture ourself, we care for ourself. Jesus said it that way, you know, who doesn't nurture himself and take care of his own body? So the point is, is that we already love ourself and Jesus takes the fact. He says, look, one way he said it was, whatever you want others to do to you, do also to them. That's the golden rule. So basically he's saying, because you love yourself, love other people like you want to be loved yourself. It's so very, very important for us to get this. So it's not promoting self-love. He wouldn't contradict himself either. Back in chapter 12, verse 3 to 8, he said, forget yourself. He's not going to turn around and say, you need to love yourself. He's not going to do that. It's just not going to be self-contradicting like that. I hear people say all the time, well, you know, I just hate myself. I despise myself. I don't like anything about myself. What they're really saying is I'm not getting what I want. I don't have the life I want. I don't have the stuff I want. I don't have the respect I want. Everything's messed up and so I hate myself. No. They don't. It's because they're just simply saying it's not all coming my way and I'm mad about it. So the truth is we do love ourself. And so because we do, it gives us the kind of understanding of how to love other people. What you want done for you and how you want to be treated is the way we should treat other people. So love does no harm to its neighbor, that's the next statement that's so important. Love is an unpaid debt, love is the fulfillment of the law, and love does no harm to its neighbor. So Paul explains explicitly how love fulfills the law. What Paul had stated positively in chapter 12, verse 9 to 21, love is doing good for others, he states negatively here in this passage where he says love does no harm to others. And so we only seek the good for others and refuse to have any part in manipulating or hurting them. With believers, we're devoted to one another. With unbelievers, we bless and we do not curse. We respect our neighbor, we show love. You know, it's a loving thing not to do things that causes trouble for your neighbors. You know, I mean, it's a loving thing not to have a party that goes all night long so your neighbor can sleep. You know, I guess I'm loving myself here a little bit. So this is so important. Love does no harm to his neighbor. Let's get specific. Paul mentioned these and so we can mention them. He says, love keeps me from adultery. Modern society does not see adultery like God does. God sees it as an act of hate rather than some sort of weird type of love and so on. It is not, you know, people today think that, well, adultery, I just fell in love with another person. They weren't my wife and I just couldn't help it. I was fated to do this. It just happened. It was incontrollable. Boy, if you do that in any other area of life, it'd be, I was just incontrollable. I chopped his head off. It was incontrollable. You know what I'm saying? I mean, it doesn't compute. That is just not true. And so, love keeps me from adultery. Proverbs speaks to the devastation that extramarital sexual relations has in any relationship. Premarital sex, extramarital sex, adultery within marriage, the scriptures talk about it. So what does love do? Love refuses that. Love will not contemplate a relationship with somebody that's not your wife, that's not your husband. That's what love does. So love fulfills the law. I mean, there we go. We got a law that says thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, if I love that person, right, I don't want that to happen to them. I don't want to be that person that brings this division and pain in their life. Love keeps me from murder. And I won't go into all of them. If I love people, then I'm never gonna murder anybody. These are the ones he mentioned. Love keeps me from lying to or about my neighbor. No slander. I'm not going to do that because I don't want to be slandered about and so I'm not supposed to slander other people. And then love keeps me from envy, jealousy, and wanting what is not mine. Love keeps me from any and all harm. to my neighbor. Any manipulation, trickery, deception, backbiting, or slander, you see, love is the fulfillment of the law. So look folks, we're not talking about warm fuzzies. We're not talking about, you know, just this warm, you know, nurturing feeling that we get about other people. No, we're talking about a love that seeks the best for those people around. Love meets needs, love cares, love gets involved, love reaches out. These are the things we're talking about. So we're already to 7.05 here. I'm gonna launch into the next section. I might not be able to get it completely done, but love does something else in this passage, and that is this. It makes us live differently. We live like it matters. It matters how we live. Verses 11 to 14. It's been a while since we read this. Let me read it again. And do this, knowing the time that 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 revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust." This is pretty awesome. People, you know, today, it mentions here, it's knowing the time and it's high time. You know, speaking of time, people don't wear watches that much today. I'm a watch wearer. I still got one and it's not digital. You know, I know what it means when you say clockwise. So anyway, I wear a watch. So, but if they do wear a watch today, then they depend on it for far more than telling time. I mean, sometimes it monitors their exercise or It can act like a cell phone. It has the internet, email. There was a lady out here walking along, was just holding her hand up like this, and was just talking, talking, talking, talking, and then it dawned on me, she had one of those watches that was also a cell phone. And she was just talking, and it was amazing. Well, you know, these are pretty wild. But most younger people, do you wear a watch, Dean? Cell phone, is that how you find out what time it is? Cell phone, that's how people tell time today. Cell phones are the main reasons people don't wear watches. Well, in some cases, people don't care what time it is. That's one group. And then Paul, now he was the antithesis of this thought. He was time conscious. He starts out the session by saying it is time to do something. We have been redeemed and admonished to offer our bodies as living sacrifice. That living sacrifice is put into action in our relationships which we've been speaking about now for three weeks. Knowing the time, that is, we understand the time. Time is another sub-theme that I won't go through here. I've got several verses, but it's another sub-theme in the book of Romans. You know, the present time, the present time, it says it several times, in this present time. Here in verse 11, knowing the time, it is high time. Now, the word for time here is the word kairos. It's not chronos. Chronos, from which we get chronology, that's just the passing of time. Kairos has to do with the season, the era, the epoch, the age for an event. In other words, the time is right. for something, and it's not speaking of linear time. So the time is right. He's saying, in essence, it's urgent that we do something. Look at that verse 11, and do this. Here's a command. Do this, believer. Here's what we're supposed to do. If we're loving, if we have the love of God in our heart, then there's something we need to do, and what is it we need to do? And I put it down in three steps here in this passage. The first thing we need to do is wake up. Wake up. You say, what are you talking about? Well, it says in verse 11, and do this knowing the time. Now it is high time to awake out of sleep. So sleep in the Bible can mean natural sleep, you know, like taking a nap. It can mean the physical death of a believer, or as it does here, it can mean spiritual lethargy. And I think I can say with a little degree of authority that many Christians have been sleepwalking their way through their life spiritually. Partly it's due to the way we presented Christ to them in the first place. We presented Jesus, we presented salvation, not as a relationship involving eternal life, but as a destiny. You don't want to go to hell, you want to go to heaven, and so trust Jesus to be your savior and you won't have to go to hell. Well, praise God. That is absolutely true, but that's not the presentation of salvation in the Bible. Salvation in the Bible is follow me. Salvation in the Bible is take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me. Yes, it leads to eternal life, but it's a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Salvation is transformation. Salvation is, it says so back in chapter 12, verse 1. It's a transformation. That's awesome. And so this is something very, very important. Salvation is not just a destiny. Salvation is a doorway to a relationship with God and to a calling to be His ambassador. And I think people sometimes miss that. We are ambassadors for Christ. We live on earth, but we represent heaven. You know, sleeping on the job is not okay for your employer. You know that? I mean, it's just not going to work well. I had one guy at the lumber yard again, this one guy, man, I don't know. He was the guy that liked to get drunk. And so one day he came in and he went back and was supposed to be working on something. And the boss came back and found him laying up on the third level on a stack of A stack of two by 12s, 20 foot long. He was laying up there and had his hard hat laying over his face. And man, he was just, he didn't last. He didn't last the day, he was gone. And so we're not supposed to sleep on the job. Well, it's not okay with God either. We're supposed to wake up. And here's some things to wake up to. Wake up to the nearness of your salvation. Look at the verse. It's time to wake up out of our sleep because our salvation is nearer than when we believe. Now some folks read that and they get nervous. You say, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I thought I had already been saved. And I can say to you with all assurance, if your faith and trust is in Jesus, even at this moment, you are saved. And I'm also going to say that you are being saved. And then I'm also going to say that one day you will ultimately consummate your salvation. You will be saved. The Bible talks about it that way. Let me give you an example. In Romans 8, 1, we have been justified, which is the first step of salvation. That is, made just with God. In Romans 8, 12 to 17, we have been and are being sanctified. That is, it's a process where we become more and more like Christ. And then we will be glorified. It's that point that he's talking to. Our glorification, our going to be in the Lord's presence is closer than when we believe. Well, that can be true in two ways. I'm closer to dying than I was the day that I got saved. And second of all, Second of all, the Lord's coming is closer. So that's very important for us to know. So what Paul has in view is that we are closer to being with the Lord than we were. We're closer to the bema seat for our rewards. We're closer to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We're closer to the judgment of the world. We're closer to the consummation. And so he says, wake up, you know, wake up out of your spiritual lethargy. This is urgent. We're closer to our our ultimate destiny to be in the Lord's presence. And then we have to wake up to the proximity of the coming day. Look at the verse. There's so much in here. Folks, I'm teaching this like I was teaching a bunch of Bible students. I hope you're listening here. This is so important. It says we're supposed to wake up out of sleep, for our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. And then it says, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Many times in the New Testament it's called that day. And the day is none other than the day of His coming. So let me put it this way. Darkness is passing, dawn is approaching. John said that men love darkness rather than light. He even said it this way, everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. Now we live in a day when mankind thinks he supposes that he is getting away with evil, with scheming, with thievery, murdery, treachery. idolatry and godlessness of all kinds. They think they're getting away with it because it's sort of done in the dark. They're not standing on the rooftops doing all these things. They're trying to do it behind closed doors on the cover of darkness. It's impossible to suppose that because they cannot cover it up because the dark and the light are the same to God. So the gathering and the service in the body of believers is all important in life because the days are evil. These are dark days and the day is near. You know, we have quoted many times without really emphasis to understand it, but we love Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25. Preachers do. Preachers like me, you know, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as a matter of some is, but it's that last phrase. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. What are we talking about? We're talking about the day of the Lord. The day's coming. The rapture's coming. And then the day of the Lord is coming. The end of all things is coming. Now, Paul was saying that 2,000 years ago. He said, well, we don't have to worry about it then because it's never really going to happen. No, no. We're just closer than we've ever been. This is so important. I don't know how we can look around the world and see what is happening today and not understand that things are coming. They're winding down. There's some scary news out there. I won't go into it tonight, but there's all kinds of stuff going on behind the scenes and technology that would just scare you to death if you knew what the technocrats are really trying to accomplish in the world. But let me go on. We're supposed to wake up, and then number two, we're supposed to clean up. We've gotta clean up. The relationships of our life need a clear witness from us. They don't need us to give them an on-again, off-again witness. They don't need us to say one thing with our lips and say another thing with our life. They are dumbfounded when we claim God as our father, yet we live like the devil is our father. And sometimes Christians, they've just given themselves so much permission that they think they can just get away with anything. Well, I have to first question if they really are Christians, and second, if they are, do they suppose that living this way is okay? It's just not. Our credibility disappears when we proclaim Jesus is the answer, and then when we are under pressure and problems, we wilt. like one of bonnie's irises out here that gets you know that gets too much water on it or something we wilt in those and so that just takes away from our credibility so we need to clean up let me give you some thoughts here we need to put off our night clothes i think that's kind of interesting it says therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the over the armor of light put off your night clothes slovenly, lethargic, indifferent, uncommitted believers that don't look the part. Think of a firefighter. He hears the alarm, he jumps out of bed, and he runs straight to the truck in his pajamas. How would that work? I mean, he can't go fight the fire like that. So we're supposed to do what? Well, we need to put on our armor. The picture is that because of the hour, we must not just wake up and get up, but we need to get dressed up as well, take off our nightclothes, That is, the deeds of darkness, and put on instead a suitable daytime equipment for soldiers of Christ. The Christian life, folks, is not sleep, but it's a battle. We could talk all night about the Christian armor. Ephesians 6.10 and following talks about that. We're in an army. Boy, this is something that we don't get sometimes. We're in an army. We're in a spiritual battle. We're on a battlefield, and to be running around in spiritual pajamas is not a good idea when we're on a battlefield. And I can't tell you how many Christians never suit up for the battle, and they get blindsided by the devil, and it just completely rocks their spiritual world. It's just so, so very important. So then we need to forsake carnal behaviors. Look at what was going on in the first century, and I'm going to read it in the New Living Translation. Here's what was going on in the first century that Paul said, these are works of darkness, and you need to put them off if you're a believer. Note, don't participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. So the Roman world was known for wild orgies and drunkenness which led to sexual promiscuity and immorality. Can I ask everybody a question? What is the 21st century known for? What is it that society, what is it that people are, they've been clamoring, get the bars open, get the parties open, get, I mean, that's what they're clamoring because this is what we're known for. Well, listen, you know, I'm not surprised when the world lives like that, but it ought to shock us when Christians participate. That's what we're talking about here. Our influence is negated in the world whenever we do exactly what the world does. Now, as I teach this and talk about this passage and I teach it straight from the scriptures, I really do put myself in a category of those that take the Bible literally and believe we're supposed to apply it in our lives. I just want to say to everyone listening, it does matter how we live and how we behave. It does. We're not free to do anything we want to. So this is important. Colleges and universities today are rated according to their party scenes. Our fellowship with God and our positive influence to the saved and the lost is damaged by our worldliness if we give in to this. So what about quarreling and jealousy? You know, the phrase here actually has a political bent. We're to submit to authorities as ministers of God. We are not to become argumentative, debating, scheming, cutthroat political activists. That's not what our calling is. And I just want to say this this way, and I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but God is not riding on the back of a donkey or an elephant here in the United States of America. God is on His throne, and He is our loyalty, not to any political party or to any politician. Let me just put it this way. Entirely too much license is practiced by the church today. They say, free from the law, oh blessed condition, sin as I please and still have remission is the lawless theme song that's being encouraged by even some people preaching in the pulpit. Live any way you want to, it doesn't make any difference. Folks, that could not be any more against the word of God. So we're supposed to wake up, and we're supposed to suit up, and we're supposed to grow up. Put on Jesus. This is Christ-likeness, putting on Christ. Romans 12, one said, be renewed in your mind. Ephesians 4, 17 to 24, I was gonna go there and read it. You can look it up and read it. It says the same thing. Let's be renewed in the spirit of our mind and put off the evil works of darkness. And isn't that amazing that right here in this passage on don't let your love be hypocritical and that we are supposed to not have any debt except to love one another, he stops and he says, let's put a qualifier on your love. We can reach out in love and do all kinds of great things, but if we are living a contradiction, If our life is a contradiction to the chaste and holy life that God prescribes in his scriptures, then we are chopping off the legs of our witness before it ever gets anywhere. So it's so important. So Romans 13 began with a teaching about how we can be good citizens. and good neighbors, but it ends with why we should do that. There is no greater incentive to the doing of these duties than a lively expectation of the Lord's return. Here's why we behave ourselves, do right, live right, act right, and love right. We do this because the Lord's coming. You see, it's high time. The time is now, it's urgent that we live the way that we're supposed to. And what does it have to do with Romans 12, 9 and 13, 8? Unfeigned love that senses an unpaid debt will always be concerned about the people in life, the saved, the lost, the authorities, and we will be actively engaged with a good testimony. Well, that's a whole lot tonight. It's probably more than I should have given out, but I wanted to finish the section. Short section, says a lot. And what do you got, Dean? Any of the ideas that they had on what does love look like? I saw a few of them as they were passing by. I'll save it all right all right so let's look here so all right so we got Bernie Lyle said grace extended yeah Mark and Jan Douglas said putting others needs ahead of your own Yep. Which that goes along with what Andrew preached on. Yep. Which is really from near that same passage. Romans chapter 12, verse 3 to 8. Yep. Melissa's speed for giving 70 times 7, which sometimes is really hard to do. Yeah, that's right. Yep. Virginia Forbes says honor the position of power the person is in even if you don't agree with their ideas. That's right. Brenda Bradford rejoicing in God's Word. Okay. Now here's a good one here. Mike Pike said truth can't be absent of love but love or I'm sorry truth can be absent of love but love must not be absent of truth. That's excellent. So to show Christ-like love is to speak truth and love. Yep. Very good. Very good thought, Mike. Thank you. And then Marilyn Young said, don't withhold love when you have opportunity to give it. Okay. Joe Aaron said, love is unconditional. Correct. And then Paulette Wolha, or wait, Paulette Great-Wolhoff. Yeah. I always forget the order on that. Which one's the current, sorry. What does love look like it looks like an investment in something we esteem is valuable. Oh, that's good That's really good. And then my thought was Love decides in advance. So something that someone taught me that I'm really close to taught me the hardest decisions are made in advance. So we determine in advance what we're gonna do. So if you think about it, you look at Joseph and he resisted, it was Pharaoh's wife, right? It was Potiphar's wife. Potiphar's wife, sorry. So he resisted Potiphar's wife. Well, he resisted Potiphar's wife, I guarantee you that he had already decided that in advance. So what happens when we get in sticky situations, we think like, What am I going to do? And we react, right? Well, when we react, we gamble making a bad decision. So if we decide in advance what we're going to do, and so then if you think about it, like, loving others is not based on, like the guy you brought up earlier, the tax collector. Why am I blanking on his name? He was being snarky and said, well, who's my neighbor? It depends because some of them don't deserve it. Well, if I decide I have prerequisites for how I'm going to treat you before I even encounter you, then it doesn't matter what you're like, I'm just gonna treat you a certain way. So, anyways. Well, I'll close it off with just this one thought, and that is that we kind of said that love is gracing people. It's not giving them what they deserve, it's giving them what they may not deserve. Now, it's easy to love a lot of people. Some people are just very loving and lovable, but it takes God's grace, His love poured out in our heart for us to give grace to other people. And I don't think this is warm fuzzies. I think this is we're supposed to love people in the area of meeting their needs and doing what is good for them and doing what is right for them and what is best for them. and keeping in mind I want to do for them what I would have them do for me. So that is really, really important. Grace is something that you cannot earn and do not deserve. Grace you cannot earn and grace you do not deserve. Well folks, that's it for Table Talk tonight. Now listen, I want you to pay attention to those last 64 that are still hanging in here with me for a moment. On Friday, this week's Friday update has some very important information about changes to what we're going to be doing at Grace Church in the coming weeks. We're ready to open up some things a good bit more at church, and we're still very concerned about the COVID-19 and about all those things, but we're going to be opening up and giving more opportunities and relaxing some of the way we do things. One service is going to be with the more regimented social distancing, and another service is going to be a little different. So we'll talk to you about that, give you some of the details on Friday. Please tune in to the Friday update. You're going to get an email, it's going to be posted on Facebook and the website, and we're also going to do it with a video on Friday. So be paying attention. Well, God bless all of you. This Sunday is going to be a wonderful time together. We've got a gentleman that is gonna be baptized Sunday that's gonna be a great blessing. He's in the late days of his life, but he wants to be baptized in obedience to the Lord. Well, God bless all of you. You have a wonderful evening and try to catch a little bit of those beautiful rays of the sun out there with the cool air. God bless and we'll see you.