If you would stand with me for the reading of God's Word, we're going to read verses 7-14. Romans 13, verses 7-14, rendered therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. owe no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing it is that we can gather together this evening. It's such a beautiful day that you bless us with to be in your house. And Father, we rejoice that we were able to gather tonight and sing these songs together. fellowship together. I pray you bless your word to our hearts. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to leave here tonight with a greater understanding of your will for us and how you'd have us to live. And God, I just ask you to use us greatly this week. Father, there are a lot coming up this week, a very busy week, very busy month. And Father, we trust in you for your grace and your mercy and your peace throughout this month and the things that we have planned. Father, Lord, putting all things in your hands, and we just thank you, Father, for how you're working in different lives, what you're doing. And I just pray, Father, that you would be lifted up. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. In verse number three of this text, the end of that verse, Paul says, will thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. We looked at verses one through seven last week and the responsibility that we have towards civil authorities, and how are we to live so as not to live in fear of civil authorities? Is it merely just As believers, is it merely a secular, even a, we could call it a secular question, because there are a lot of lost people that live in such a way that they are never in any kind of trouble with civil authorities. They live good lives. But is that, is there no, should there be no difference between how a lost man lives, living a good life, and how the Christian is to live? Paul stated in verse seven that we are to render to the civil authorities all their, dues. We owe something to them, whether that's tribute or custom or fear, honor. And he transitions here, verses 8-13, in how the Christian is to live his life. In verse number 7, we'll look at three things tonight. The first one is that the Christian is to live by precept. There are rules in the Christian life. There are very clear scriptures that say, do this, do this, do this, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, and we're to obey those, we're to follow those. Just clear, there's no questions about it. The Bible is clear, even just in response to civil authorities, the Bible is clear on that. Verse number seven, we're to This isn't anything up to debate here. Rendered therefore to all their dues, to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. In 1 Peter 2, verses 13 and following, Peter says, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. So this is 1 Peter 2, verse number 13. Whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." There's clear statements there on how we are to submit ourselves to every ordinance of man. There's laws put out there that don't violate our responsibility to God. Our responsibility to the state is clear. We're to obey. And it's clear, Paul wrote to him and said in Titus 3 verse 1, put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work. So clear in relation to civil authorities and our responsibility to them, there are some things that the Bible just lays out there where to do this, where to obey. And there are other scriptures that we have that lay out other things that aren't necessarily put out by the civil authorities, put out by God, that were to do certain things, and it's just clear. We could have a list. Here's all the things that we're supposed to do today. Here are all the things that we're not supposed to do today. You could say the laws that we're to live by, precepts we're to live by. Clark said this, in every settled state and under every form of political government where the laws are not in opposition to the laws of God, it may be very soundly and rationally said, genuine Christians have nothing to do with the laws but to obey them. A lot of times we don't like to think about that. I don't want to obey the laws. Obviously, we don't want to go country to God's word as believers, but we don't want to put ourselves in subjection to a secular government, which ours is a secular government. We don't live in our Christian government. There are no governments in the world that are Christian governments. They're all secular. There's more that are More conservative, less conservative. But the responsibility we have is to obey them. We have the responsibility to be law-abiding citizens. We're to seek the peace of the community. The Bible is clear on that. In 1 Timothy 2, when he talks about prayers, why are we to pray for all men? Why are supplications and prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, starting off with kings? For kings and for all that are in authority. Why? So that we can lead a quiet and peaceable life. So that's our responsibility. Lawlessness, in 1 John 3 verse 4, John says, "...whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law." Lawlessness is the essence of sin. So we have, as God's people, we have nothing to do with being lawless. But is it enough for us just to live by the letter of the law? I'm just going to live a life. I'm not going to violate anything that's going to go contrary to what the society thinks I should do. Is that, I mean, non-believers do that. Look at verses 8 through 10. We have something else that we're to live by. The Christian is to live by principle. we have a principle to live by. And principles are harder to live by than just priesthood. If just having a list of things of do's and don'ts, that's easy to follow. But having a principle to live by, that's a little bit different. I don't know if you remember back when the speed limit nationwide used to be 55. And it was in late 95 when that was repealed. And The year 96, I graduated from college, Kim and I were we had, we were married the previous year, we drove to Michigan from Florida. And then we spent about five weeks there, then we drove out to Oregon. And I remember driving through Montana and seeing the speed limit signs, which were based was reasonable and prudent. So what were they asking? You're just you're to you're to drive by principle. There wasn't a letter of the law to drive by, there was not a stated speed limit, and that became a problem. Because the authorities could say on one day, kind of be grumpy and say, you know what, what's reasonable and prudent for me today is 55 miles an hour. Tomorrow, same stretch of road, it might be 80, it might be 100, it might be 110, it might be 150, if they're in a good mood. So it was just kind of up to them. And, and finally, actually went to the Supreme Court of Wyoming or Montana, where they said, the police officers are part of the executive branch, they can only enforce law, so they can't make them up. And they can't just say, well, today, it's 55. Tomorrow, it's 80. Tomorrow, it's 45 the next day. So they can't make it up. So they had to have a stated speed limit. I think they put it at 80. Or 85, I don't remember when it was then, but I remember driving through there and seeing that and thought, this is nice. But it's not nice. It's harder to live by principle than it is by precept. Paul here is not saying that a Christian should never, I mean, there in verse number eight, owe no man anything, and we'll look further on down through here, but he starts off this section, owe no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. He's not saying a Christian should never borrow money, should never get into a legal loan, but a Christian is forbidden to borrow money If he can't pay it, he can't borrow beyond his ability to repay. He's got to pay his debts and being indebted really in the matter of love. This principle of love is what he's bringing out here in these next few verses. Paul is not telling us that we cannot contract an obligation. He's telling us that we've got to pay every obligation and we can't leave a debt unpaid. Paul here is forbidding the withholding from man what is his due. In Proverbs 3, verses 27 and 28, it says, But there's a debt which we can never fully, we can never, it's never fully paid. It's never paid. And that's the principle by what we're to live by, the principle of love, that debt is never paid. You never get to the point with your neighbor, where you've paid all the love you have to pay to them, and you don't owe them any more love. That debt's never paid. And so it's just a principle that we are to live by this principle of love. If we want to live in harmony with civil authorities, we can obey its laws, just go down, obey the letter of the law. And there's all kinds of YouTube videos of people obeying the letter of the law, and being the biggest wretches that any police officer would want to come across. And they're obeying the letter of the law, and just how they treat those in authority. There's a hatred there, but they can say, well, I'm obeying the letter of the law. And we could do the same thing. But that's not enough for the Christian to obey just the letter of the law. We're to live by the principle of love to our neighbors. And when we do that, we'll be fulfilling the law automatically. Consider the two tables of the law, relating to our responsibility to God and our responsibility to man. If you turn over to Mark 12, Mark chapter number 12, Jesus is asked a question here in Mark 12. One of the scribes came to him, one of the men responsible for the copying of the law and for knowing what the law was, and came to Christ, and in verse number 28, Ask the question. Mark 12 verse 28, and one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, what is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. In Matthew 22, Verses 37 through 40, a little bit different account here. Matthew 27, 37, Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. We don't live by the letter of the law. We live by the principle of love. We have that principle to live by. We're to love the Lord with all of our being so that when we consider honoring God, not putting anything else before God. If we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we never think about making a graven image in worshiping. We never think about bowing down to an image. We never think about taking God's name and using it in vain. If we love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we never think about blaspheming him. If we truly love him, when we think about the second table of the law, if we truly love our neighbors as ourselves, We're not gonna break any of those laws. If we truly love our neighbors as ourselves, we're not gonna kill them. We're not gonna commit adultery. We're not gonna steal from our neighbors. We're not going to lie to them. We're not gonna covet that which is theirs. If we truly love them, we don't even have to think, I don't have to go around wondering, this is on the list today, do you not kill my neighbor? I cannot kill, I cannot kill, I can't kill my neighbor. That never crosses my mind. That thought has never crossed my mind, you're not allowed to kill your neighbor. Why? If we love our neighbor as we ought to, we're gonna fulfill that. I don't have to think about not killing him. I don't have to think about not stealing from him. If I truly love my neighbor as myself, those things are gonna be automatically fulfilled. Consider what's going on in the streets of Israel. Would any of that be going on if those involved loved the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and loved their neighbors as themselves? What's going on in Ukraine? What's going on around the world? We don't have to pick out any particular nation. Would there be any wars? If everyone loved their neighbor as themselves, would there be any wars? There wouldn't. We wouldn't be coveting people. Nations wouldn't be coveting more land because that's my neighbor's land. We're not going to take that from them. We're not going to do this to them because we don't want to kill them. We don't want to harm them. If everyone Obey these things, there'd be no wars, there'd be no rapes, there wouldn't be any child molesting, there wouldn't be any wives being beaten, there wouldn't be any murders or anything else. If we loved our neighbor as ourselves, if we love people as God requires us to love them, these laws would be automatically fulfilled. In Galatians 5 verse 14, Paul says, for all the law is fulfilled in one word. Even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. James said, if ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. Paul wrote Timothy, that the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. It's the end of the commandment, the goal of the commandment. The purpose of the law is charity out of a pure heart. So we live by that principle of love. In verse number 10 of our text, love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. True love is always seeking the good of others, seeking their welfare, seeking to be a blessing to them. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, but rejoiceth in the truth. Love is not, again, being permissiveness. There's true love. There may be some things that are hard towards a neighbor. There may be some things that are, you know, we have that term tough love. And there can be tough love towards neighbors, but it's still the fulfilling of the law. There's a huge difference between, again, living by precept and living by principle. Living by law, living by the love of the law, and living by love. Law asked the question, who's my neighbor? And that was asked to Jesus, well, who's my neighbor? And Jesus' answer was, love your neighbor. Think about the Samaritan who just loved his neighbor, provided for him, helped him, went out of his way to be kind to him, went out of his way to heal him, went out of his way, used his own expenses to get him to where he needed to be. Why did the good Samaritan do that? Because he was actuated by love. This was the question asked to Jesus. How often should my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times. Love says there's no limit, I'm just gonna keep forgiving. I'm just gonna keep loving. The law says well how much should I give? Well the law, I'm gonna go by a 10, I'm just gonna give a 10th. Love says well as God has prospered you. As we have opportunity, as we purpose in our hearts, as we are cheerfully giving, we give. Again, it's harder to live by principle than merely by precept. But we're to live by precept. There are just straightforward things. Do this, don't do this. We're to live by principle. We're to live by this principle of love. But another thing we see, we're to live by in verses 11 through 14, is that we are to live by priorities. This is one of my, I love this portion of scripture here, verse number 11. to 14, but verse number 11 in particular, I've always been, this verse always just popped out at me, even as a new believer, reading the scriptures, and this really stuck with me, in that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. And this isn't talking about our souls, when you trusted Christ for salvation, this is talking about This is talking about Christ coming back and saying, come up hither. This is Christ coming and receiving us unto himself. Our salvation is nearer now than when we believed. It's high time to wake up. It's high time to get out of our drowsiness and live as we ought to live because of the time that we're living in. He says, The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chain-bringing and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. There are some things that our life ought to change based upon the times that we're living in. Is there anything wrong with taking your phone out and taking a video. There's nothing wrong with that. But how about when someone falls down in a restaurant and they're choking and everyone takes their phones out and taking a video. Is anything illegal with that? Probably not. Is there anything morally wrong with that? Certainly is. At that time, that's not the time to be taking a video. That's not the time to be going on Facebook Live or Instagram Live or any other kind of streaming thing. That's not the time for that. Why? Because of what's going on. For believers, because of the times in which we're living, knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, let us put on the armor of light. Because of the times that we're living in, our lives ought to be different. There ought to be some priorities in our life, understanding though this course of action is perfectly alright, I'm not breaking any laws, I'm not even violating maybe the principle of love, but because of the time, I ought to be doing something different right now. The Lord's coming soon. How should we then live? Turn over, if you would, to Matthew 24. Matthew chapter 24. In verse number 42 through 44. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good men of the house had known what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. How ought we to be living? We ought to be watching. We ought to be sober and watchful. If we could know that at 9.30 tonight, the Lord's gonna return, if we knew that, if we knew that, if somehow we got a revelation of that and we knew it was right, it would change how we progress with our church service. It would change everything between now and that time. everything would change in the next hour and a half. Everything that we thought about, the things that we would be doing, we wouldn't be trying to update our social media, we wouldn't be checking emails. What would we be doing? We'd probably be trying to, we'd be rejoicing, we'd be encouraging one another, but we also might be thinking, you know what? I need to warn this person one more time. I need to share the gospel with this person. The Lord's coming back and they've been rejecting the gospel. They need to be warned one more time. it would change how we live. In Mark 13, verses 35 through 37, Jesus said, Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning, lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. We don't want the Lord to find us sleeping. Well, that ought to change how we do some things in our life. That ought to change, even though we could spend a day doing things that are perfectly nothing against scripture. We could spend a day enjoying some things and doing some things that are completely in conformity with the word of God that may not be what God wants us to do because of the times that we're living in, because it's not just, there's a priority that we ought to put in our life. When we consider those that would, there's a lot of Christians that do this, they retire. And they, it's like they retire from, I mean, I have no problem with someone retiring from a job. You know, they spent 30, 40 years at a place and they just, it's good to finally be done working at that place. But we're not done being Christians. We're not done serving the Lord. And there are a lot of believers, though, that they retire, and they've always wanted to move to South Carolina. They've always wanted to go to the Outer Banks. They've always wanted to go down to Florida. They've always wanted to go down to Arizona and live in a certain spot. And so they retire and go there, and they're miserable because they're not in the will of God. And that's not what God wants them to be doing. In 1 Thessalonians 5, In verse number five, he says, ye are the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. We are children of light. We're children of the day. the Lord's coming back would be watchful. Turn, if you would, over to 1 Corinthians 7. 1 Corinthians 7, Paul is dealing here with marriage and singlehood, living the single life, being married, dealing with those issues in this chapter. And he brings out, in verse number 29, this principle. But this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possessed not, and they that use this world as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passeth away. Is there anything wrong with having a wife? Is there anything wrong with weeping? Is there anything wrong with rejoicing? Is there anything wrong with buying or possessing? There's nothing wrong with any of those things. But Paul said, listen, the time is short. There's some priorities that we have in life. Make sure you're living by those priorities. Peter said that the end of all things is at hand. Be therefore sober and watch unto prayer. Look over to 2 Peter 3 and verse number 13. If you live in light of eternity, If you live in light of the coming of the Lord and you're standing before him at that day, will you live differently? You're gonna live in such a way that brings glory to God and good to your fellow man. If you're living in light of that eternity, it's gonna change how you live each day. In verse number 13 of 2 Peter 3, He says, nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless, in account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you. Seeing that we look for such things. Seeing that we understand that we are living in the last days and the things that are coming, that we read about in the scriptures, they make haste. We are at the door. Seeing that we look for such things. Be diligent that you may be found of him in peace. Be diligent that you may be found in him without spot. Be diligent that you may be found in him blameless. the night of Christ's absence. It's almost over. He's coming soon. Are we ready for that day to come? Three times, Paul here in this text says, let us. Some practical things. He's saying, in light of Christ coming back so soon, let us do some things. He says, let us cast off the works of darkness. Everything characteristic of darkness is to be laid aside, and all that is appropriate to the day is to be put on. We're told in Ephesians 5 verse 11, that we're to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. So many believers are in fellowship with darkness, they just get involved in it, it's all around us. The world is so wicked today. What's on our phones is so wicked. We are surrounded, think about there in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number one, wherefore seeing we all to our comforts about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. We have so much that the devil has laid out around us to trap us. We have so much in the world and so many believers are getting stuck in that. I saw an interesting, I love just seeing the beauty of God's creation, some of the things, some of the plants and things that he has are just, it's mind boggling. And I just saw a new one recently, a new plant that I've never seen before. I don't remember even what it's called. Small little plant, grows right close to the water where mosquitoes, after they, emerge out of the water and they fly and they have all these little sticky hands that stick out and it sticks to it and then it just kind of curls around and grabs onto the mosquito and eats it. It comes with a Venus flytrap but it's completely different how it looks. Considering, and I completely forgot what the illustration I was going to use with that. Look at my scriptures here. See if it comes back to me. Oh, yes, the traps around us. You know, those mosquitoes as they come out of that water, they have no clue. Here's this plant, this beautiful looking plant right above me has all these nice drops of water on there looks so tasty to drink. And yet it's a trap. It's a trap. And the devil has laid so many traps around us and so many believers are getting stuck in those traps. When we ought to be understanding the day, let us cast off the works of darkness. I don't care if these things are around us that we can get involved in. I'm having nothing to do with any of it. because the Lord is at hand. So let us cast off the works of darkness. He says, let us put on the armor of light. We should let our lights shine. Let others by our life see Jesus Christ work through us and live through us so that they see what an actual believer is to be like, how they're supposed to live. How many lost people in the world today that work around Christians have no idea what a Christian actually ought to live like? would have put on the armor of light. The Bible speaks about the armor of righteousness. In 2 Corinthians 6, in verse number seven, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness, on the right hand and on the left, that protects us against this world. The armor of God is mentioned in Ephesians 6, verse 11, that we're to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, that protects us against the devil, and this armor of light, I believe, protects us against the flesh. We're to put on this armor, allow God to live through us and change how we live, so we're not living for the flesh, we're not living for this world, we're not living for the devil. We are living in such a way that the world sees a believer how they ought to be seen. Then he says, let us walk honestly. Not only God, but the whole world can see our manner of life. We're to walk honestly, we're to live in such a way that that they'd see us and what a difference it is from the deceitful world that they live in. This whole selfie fad that the world's in, and all the the ability to change what you look like, change how you live. You can, it's not about just taking pictures and putting them online. Now it's taking pictures, changing how you look, even changing... Now I think the new Google phone that's coming out, the new, I can't remember the name of it now, the camera on there, where you can see, you know what, I don't like my expression on my picture here. I love my expression on this picture. I'm gonna take that expression and put it on this thing here. So now I have a completely new memory. I didn't look that way. I wasn't grumpy, I was happy here. I'll post it online. Everyone sees how happy I was when I was at this place. When I was at this party, when I was working here, they'll see how happy I was because I just changed my face. And it's just it's complete fakery. We're living in that world of deception. Let us walk honestly. Let us walk honestly. We have complete provision in Christ to fulfill all that is necessary. Verse number 14, he says, put ye on, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. We're to put on Christ as a garment. We're not to take forethought for the sinful nature. We're not to have a preoccupation in our minds on anything but Christ. We're to say no to the flesh. On every occasion, every opportunity that comes up, we're to say no to the flesh. We're not to make provision for the flesh. We're not to provide for it in any way. We're to put on Christ by simple act of faith. He's our complete salvation, past, present, future. We have Christ, we're to live by his power in our life. We're to put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. We're to put on Christ's likeness. We are to live our life like Christ. We're to be Christians. We're to be Christ-like. Paul wrote the Colossians and said, put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. Our lives will be different. Why? Christ is coming back. We don't have the luxury of saying, well, he's gonna be here. Next generation, I can just kind of sit back and take my ease. We can't sit back and take our ease. We can't let our guard down. We can't allow our flesh to have any opportunity to indulge itself. We'll be looking forward to the day when we'll be clothed in immortality. When corruption will be cast off and incorruption will be put on. When mortality will be put off and immortality put on. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 54, it says, So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass a saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. And we're to be looking forward to that day when this earthly house is dissolved. And we have a building of God, and a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon. with our house, which is from heaven. We're to be living in light of that day. So we are to live by precept, but that is not enough. We are to live by principle, the principle of love to God, the principle of love to our neighbor, and we are to live by priority, understand that the Lord is coming soon. We're to live in light of that day. Turn, if you would, to one last passage in 1 John, chapter three. Familiar passage, I've referenced this often. 1 John 3, verses 2 and 3. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. We have that hope, then it ought to change our life. We have a priority in life. Christ is coming back soon. Let's not just worry, well, I've got my list of do's and don'ts here. I'm living by that. God will be okay with that. He's not gonna be okay with us just living by the do's and the don'ts. We have a principle of love to live by and a principle of priority. He's coming back that ought to change our perspective on things, that ought to change how we spend a Saturday, that ought to change how we, when we're off, enjoying what God's blessed us with, enjoying creation, enjoying nature, enjoying fishing, enjoying hunting, enjoying camping, enjoying strolling around, enjoying those things, understanding that when we see others doing that, that they could be lost and on their way to hell, that ought to be on our mind. And though we're enjoying those things, taking the opportunity that God gives to us to be a light and a testimony to those around us. Because the days are so short. Let's all stand together this evening. Brother Jed, will you come and lead us in a closing hymn? What a glorious thing it would be if the Lord would return. before our revival service has started, because we'd have revival then. When we're in His presence, we'll have revival. We'll be revived. But until He comes, we'll be living in a state of revival. We'll be living in a state that He's changing us on a day-to-day basis and using us on a day-to-day basis.