Turn to Romans chapter 13, if you will. Again, we find ourselves in the application portion of Paul's letter. We just recently wrapped up chapter 12, and in there we looked at how that affected us or applied to the church body as a whole. We saw what chapters 1 through 11 should do to our relationship with God, verses 1 and 2. We looked at our relationship to other believers, verses 3 through 16. We looked at our relationship to our enemies. Last time together, looked at verses one through seven of chapter 13. In chapter 13, we're focused more on society as a whole. We're stepping outside the bounds of the church to still include the church. But even beyond that, in verses one through seven, Paul focuses more on our relationship to the state or the government. And that leads us to The second half of chapter 13, we're going to look at today and our relationship to our neighbors. Verses 8 through 14. And so just like we've asked many times already, the key question that we want to focus in on today is based on chapters 1 through 11, what should our relationship to those around us look like? It's all tied to chapters 1 through 11. It's all predicated on the doctrine. The problem with a lot of people in the church today, whether actual Christians or just professing Christians, is they want to just jump to the instruction. Do this, don't do that. Here's how you're a good person. Fortunately, there's a lot of people who think they're on their way to heaven because they think they're good people. That's what chapters one through 11 told us. None of us are good people. All of us fall short of the glory of God. And so it has to be something that happens to us that's outside of us. It's not intrinsic in us. And when we understand that, then that makes us have the ability, if you will, to have a good relationship with other believers because of those truths, to have a relationship, a proper relationship even with our enemies because of those truths, to help us be good citizens in our government because of those truths. So what should that relationship to those around us look like because of those chapters? Therefore being our key word still. So let's read verses 8 through 14 together. Verse 8, oh no man anything except to love each other, for the one 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 covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I'll pause there for a moment. I know I don't need to say this here, but I'm going to say it just in case. And maybe those of you in this room don't need me to say it, but maybe somebody listening down the road may need. It's funny. If you do any kind of Google search or read a lot of commentaries, they're going to take that verse, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. and they're gonna say it all begins with self-love. They're gonna focus on you need to love yourself first if you're gonna love your neighbor. Well, there's hogwash and then there's hogwash. And that's in the later category. There's nothing about that verse that has anything to do with the idea that you need to love yourself. That's just a fancy way of saying pride. Pride comes before one thing. That's destruction. So, if you want to take that passage and say, well, let's start with pride and self-love, and then we'll build to loving our neighbors, it's destruction. That's not what chapters one through 11 are teaching us. What he's saying there is loving yourself comes naturally, too. You don't even have to think about it. We all want to take care of ourselves. We all want to avoid pain. We want to be comfortable. We want to be happy. We want good things for ourselves, sometimes even to the detriment of others. Babies come out of the womb selfish. They cry nonstop because they want to be taken care of. We don't have to teach people to love themselves. So that's not what Paul's saying. Paul's saying is the way you, by nature, love yourself so much, you ought to love your neighbor equally as much. That is not intrinsic. That is not intuitive to us. So I just throw that out there because I mean, I saw it all over, like, just do a Google search of that phrase there and see what comes up, and it ought to sicken you. And if you think it begins with self-love, then hopefully it was worth that little sidebar. Let's jump to verse 10. And I say that because you shouldn't be believing hogwash. Hogwash is bad. Verse 10, love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this, you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand. So then, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. but rather put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires." So, the key word there and key verse is verse 9 in that statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Paul's quoting a statement we find in multiple places in scripture. Leviticus 19.18 is when we first come across it. It says, you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. I love the way that verse is structured. Love your neighbor as yourself. Why? Because I am the Lord. You know, sometimes we can look at that and say, well, that doesn't make sense. Well, it makes perfect sense. He created all of us. He created us in his image. He set up the structure. And because he said this is how you're supposed to do it, that ought to be all the motivation that we need to love our neighbor the same way we intrinsically love ourselves. Christ used that statement multiple times. Matthew 22, verses 36 through 39. Someone speaking to him said, teacher, which is the greatest or which is the great commandment in the law? What's the best one? What's tops them all? And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. That is the first half of the 10 commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Don't take my name in vain. All these things are focused on you put God first. Only when you put God first can you then do the second. He said the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So the fact that he compares the two is important. The first is love God. But the way you show you love God is you love your neighbor as yourself. The same way you intrinsically love yourself. Just like in Leviticus 19, love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord. The two go together. I'm gonna read another passage, though, that you're very familiar with. Christ, on a different occasion, speaking to a lawyer, Luke 10, 25 through 37. He said, it goes like this, and behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test. He's gonna test him out. Like, you say, You're the son of God. You think you're something. Let me test you. Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Now, that word teacher there, he wasn't complimenting him. He wasn't saying, okay, educate me. I respect you. We already know his heart was to test him, to prove him wrong, to show him, who are you? You shouldn't be teaching me. I'm a lawyer. I am a biblical scholar, is what he would have been. So teacher was tongue-in-cheek, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, what is written in the law? How do you read it? Kyle and I were talking this morning about the Socratic method and using questions to teach. Here's another example of Christ doing that. This gentleman's trying to trip him up and Christ used his own words against him. Okay, well, what does the law say? I'm not fighting against the law. What does it say? How do you read it? And he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. So this lawyer knew from the Old Testament how all the law was summed up. And Christ said to him, you've answered correctly. Do this and you will live. Now, Some would argue Christ is giving him the works that he has to do. Christ isn't showing him what he has to do. He's showing him what the standard is. If you can love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor the same way you love yourself, then you can have eternal life. The problem is we don't do that, do we? Not perfectly. and we haven't done it perfectly in the past. Verse 29, it goes on and says, but he desiring to justify himself said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Why does it say that he had to justify himself? Because he's trying to trip up Christ, and he says, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life? And Christ says, what does the law say? This book that you have mastered, he tells him what the law says, And Christ said, okay, you're right. Why do you need anything new for me? And he knew the second that Christ turned the tables on him that he was guilty. He knew that he hadn't fulfilled that. And yet he himself said, this is the standard. And so what do we do when we're cornered? He had to justify himself. Okay, who's my neighbor then? That's the backdrop for us having the story of the Good Samaritan that we hear so much about. Even lost people look to the story of the Good Samaritan. Oh, we should be good neighbors. Why should we be good neighbors? Because our eternal Destiny depends on it. Verse 30, Jesus replied after he tried to justify himself with that question, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance, a priest was going down that road. Super spiritual guy. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. I don't want to get my hands dirty. I don't want to mess with this. I'm going to pretend I didn't see it. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. Somebody who, according to the law, was one of the leaders, spiritual leader. But he went to the other side of the road. But then a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. We know about the Samaritans. We talked about them last Sunday in the morning hour. The Samaritans were hated by the Jews, despised. Literally, they looked at them as a lower life form. And he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. And then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. It means he walked while that man rode. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper saying, take care of him and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Not only did he walk when he had a good animal, he used his supplies to take care of the man and now he's using his own financial resources to take care of the man. And saying, I'll spend whatever I need to spend when I come back to nurse this man back to health. So Christ now asked this lawyer another question, The lawyer who's trying to trip him up, which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? And he said, I'm sure with his head held low, the one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise. Now that's very similar to the story of the rich young ruler who, what do I need to do? Obey the law. Well, I've obeyed the law since my youth. Okay, go take all your money and give it to the poor. What is that question saying? Show that your neighbor is really more valuable than you. And what happened to the rich young ruler, he went away sad because he had a lot of wealth. He couldn't do that. His selfish ambition was coming out. It was his true colors. And you can almost see that taking place here. We don't know the end of the story. Maybe this lawyer was converted. We know he was convicted because he had to defend himself, but look at the... Christ didn't tell him, go be a neighbor and you'll be a Christian. He's saying, if you are one of my children and you have eternal life, there will be fruit from that, and that will show in how you treat your neighbor. And who is our neighbor? Anybody we come in contact with. Warren Wearsby said this, the issue is not who is my neighbor, but to whom can I be a neighbor for the glory of Christ. It's not a matter of law, but of love. And I think that's important. Goes into how we respond to our enemies and government leaders, all those things. So here in the last few chapters of chapter 13, Paul is enlarging his scope. He's going beyond the government leaders now. He just, the first part of the verse kind of focused on them and said, okay, if you're my children, obey them. That's delegated authority from God. Even the ones who aren't perfect. Just like parental authority. But now he's including all of those individuals God puts in our lives during this sojourn here on earth. He's still including the government officials here in these passages, but he's going beyond. And he wants to show it was a very specific part of our citizenship in verses one through seven. Now it's our citizenship as a whole. So before we dig into this text, let's look back at verse seven, because I don't believe there's a pause in Paul's train of thought here, even though he's shifting. Verse 7, look what he says. It says, pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. And if we were going to summarize the highlights of verses 7 and 8, it would probably go something like this. Pay what you owe, so you owe no one anything. No, Chet GPT didn't do that for me. You see how they go hand in hand? Yes, he's transitioning there, but he hasn't changed his thought. You owe somebody, pay it. But don't owe anybody. But he makes one exception there if you look at the verse. And that is for love. Specifically, agape love. We have to make an important note there about that. Because again, he lists it as an exception. Owe no man anything except for agape. But he's not saying that you should owe them love because you've been withholding it from them. Well, Technically, I've got some love in my heart for Martin, but I'm not sharing it all with him this week, because he's been on my nerves, and I'll save it for later. And Paul said it's okay if I owe him on that. I need to pay him, if I owe him money, I need to owe him money, but I can hold back my love. That's not what he's saying. Rather, what he's saying, he's making the exception, because if it's true agape love, you can't exhaust your debt. 1 Corinthians 13, 8, love never ends. You can't love somebody enough to satisfy the second great commandment, and you certainly can't love them enough to then satisfy the first great commandment on your own efforts. So that's why he makes the exception. That statement here in verse eight is very similar in concept to the one he made in chapter 12, verses nine and 10. He said, let love be genuine. Again, that was agape, and that was the basis for how we were to treat other people in the church and our enemies. But he said, he goes on, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. constantly be one-upping one another in showing preference, honor, respect. And if somebody, if you show them the honor and they come back and one-up you, will you go back and you show them more honor? I mean, if we spent our lives doing that in the church, we'd never have any squabbles, would we? It'd be easy to get along with people. And that's the idea here in verse 8. Understand that you'll never exhaust your love debt, your agape love debt. Because remember, the key to agape love is it's selfless. It always puts the other first. So, looking there at verse 8 then, his first statement about our relationship to our neighbors is a very practical one. And it still includes those who are government officials, as I said. Don't leave any debts unpaid. It's practical. That includes financial debt. If you owe somebody money, pay him. If you've borrowed money from a church member, pay him back. If you've borrowed something from a church member, a tool, a book, a car, pay him back. Fill the tank up with debt. Do it like, bend over backwards to pay those debts as quickly as you can. Owe no man anything. Don't leave it outstanding. If it's a lost person, pay him back even quicker. Because friendships have been destroyed. We all probably know somebody who, family relationships, friendships, who've been destroyed over a debt going unpaid. for whatever reason. So if it's a lost person, do whatever you have to to get that debt paid back because that's your testimony that's on the line. So the statement is a practical one, but the reason for it is a spiritual one. Look at the second part of verse eight. For the one who loves one another has fulfilled the law. What law? Love your neighbor as yourself after you love God. above all else. The rich young ruler wanted to know, how much do I have to obey the law to establish my position in heaven? The lawyer who confronted him here, what's the standard for me to inherit this eternal life that we've all read about? Perfection. So this is what Christ is saying here. The one who loves that way, has fulfilled the law because that's a byproduct, doesn't come natural to us. John Calvin said this, Paul's design is to reduce all the precepts of the law to love so that we may know that we then rightly obey the commandments. When we observe the law of love and when we refuse to undergo no burden in order to keep it. He thus fully confirms what he has commanded respecting obedience to magistrates in which consists no small portion of love." Even the government officials, our obedience to them, we need to love them. I'm not saying that we don't know most of them, but we love them as people because God has put them there. And so even our obedience to the government boils down to love, but especially our neighborliness. our interactions with those around us. We're also following a natural progression throughout this chapter as well. Paul's been showing us various reasons to obey the law, or more specifically, the governing authorities. The first one was fear. Look back at verse 2. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. Verse four, for he is God's servant for your good, but if you do wrong, be afraid. For he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is a servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. First and foremost, you need to obey the government or the governing authorities because the consequences are bad. You should be afraid of them. But That wasn't enough. He didn't stop there. He then said we should obey them for conscience's sake. Look at verse five. Therefore, one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's wrath, not just fear, but also for the sake of conscience. The next level of motivation we just read there in verse eight is love, specifically agape love. Look at verses 9 and 10. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So if you won't do it for fear's sake, if you're not that afraid of them, and you won't do it for a clean conscience, you've got a seared conscience, Do it for the sake of love. But that leads us to the fourth and highest motivation. We'll spend the rest of our time today looking at that. We should obey the governing authorities for Jesus' sake. Our devotion to Christ should be the highest motivating factor for being good citizens here on earth. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, if you will. While you're turning there, based on the context of many of his writings, it's fairly evident that Paul believed there was a high likelihood the Lord would return during his lifetime. And I think it's abundantly clear through the teachings of the inspired word of God and his letters and the other letters from the other apostles that we should live that same way. But 1 Thessalonians 4, let's read verses 13 through 18. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, those who have died already, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believed that Jesus died and rose again, even so Through Jesus, God will bring with him those who've fallen asleep. There was a fear in the Thessalonian church. They didn't quite understand the teachings on the rapture. And in fact, at one point in time, many of them believed they might have already missed the rapture because the persecution was so bad, they thought they were living through some of those end times. We know from his letter that he had already taught them extensively on this, perhaps even written to them something else. But he said, we have hope. And since Jesus rose again, God, through Jesus, will bring those who have died and they will rise again. There's nothing to fear. Verse 15, he says, for this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep." Now I think Paul's saying that, obviously it's kind of a collective we, he's just speaking to Christians in general, but I think Paul fully believed that should the Lord keep him alive, he would be one of those. We who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself would descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words." So we see the context there. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Look what he says in verses 51 and 52. You're probably all familiar with this. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We're not all going to die. Some of us are going to be alive when Christ returns, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. So you see, and everybody's gonna be changed. Everybody's gonna have new bodies. Everybody's going to go through a metamorphosis, if you will. The dead will rise. They won't be perishable anymore, but we too shall be changed. So we see him there. I think I've shared this with you before, but church I grew up in had verse 51 above the nursery when you went in and said, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. I thought that was kind of funny. One of those things that will always stick with me. Turn over to Philippians chapter 3. He's even more clear about his beliefs in his letter to the church at Philippi. Philippians chapter 3, look at verses 20 and 21. But our citizenship is in heaven. And from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself. So we're waiting for Him to come, and He's going to transform us. Look down a few verses later to chapter 4, verse 5. He says, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. It's eminent. He's going to come back and change us. We're waiting this Savior, and it's imminent. He could come at any time. The Lord is at hand. One more section. Turn over to 1 Peter, because Paul was not alone in his beliefs. 1 Peter 4.7, listen to what Peter said in this letter. The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Peter said, we're coming to the end. Some people would say, well, it's been 2,000 years since Peter wrote that. Looks like he was wrong. Well, in light of eternity, 2,000 years is just a blip in time. Turn over to the second letter, 2 Peter chapter 3. Obviously, from what we've read so far, it's apparent these men and the rest of the church were so confident in the imminent return of Christ that Peter warned of the scoffers that would come. Look at 2 Peter 3 verses 3 and 4 first. Knowing this, first of all, the scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing. Following their own sinful desires, they will say, where's the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. God promised a savior all the way back to Adam and Eve. Where are we? Where's this rescuer? How long are you going to wait? How long are you going to change your lifestyle thinking that this return is coming when it's no different than it was at that time 4,000 years before? Jump down to verse 8, a well-known part of his letter. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. People say, well, 2,000 years since Peter and Paul wrote these things. Well, it's two days. It's not a long time. I would say two days is imminent, wouldn't you? Verse 9, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Look at verse 11. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? He's coming. He's coming imminently, they thought. There's nothing that has to precede the return of Christ. He's there waiting for the Father to tell him, okay, you can go get your bride now. And so turn back to Romans 13. It's with this mindset that Paul penned the last few verses of this chapter. So look at verse 11. Besides this, you know the time that the hour has come. You know. We're ready for him. He could come any moment. Look at the end of the verse, for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. It's 100% true. Even though Christ didn't return during Paul's lifetime, nothing Paul said was false. He didn't say, he's coming before I die. He just said, he's coming soon and I need to be ready for his coming. And every day that we live on this earth, Salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. Think about this question. If the Lord's return is imminent, which I certainly believe it is, I think Paul was right to believe it, but I mean, we're 2,000 years closer. But if his return is imminent, do you want to enter your heavenly citizenship by being a rebellious citizen here below. Because look what Paul's saying, the hour has come, salvation's near. Do you want the king of all kings who gave those earthly governing authorities their power, do you want him to arrive and see you rebelling against his delegated authority? Christ, in several of his parables, often referred to kings or masters who went away on travel and then came back. Sometimes what they came back to, they liked, and sometimes what they came back to, they didn't like. The king who delegated the authority, who said, here's the people in charge while I tarry, we don't want to have him come back while we rebel against the people he left in charge, do we? So let's close this section by looking at three simple admonitions from the Apostle Paul in light of the Lord's imminent arrival. First one is wake up. Look at verse 11 again. We jumped over the middle part of it, but he says, besides this, you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. Wake up. Reminded me of Christ in the garden with his apostles, Matthew 26, 40 and 41. It says, and he came to the disciples. He had told them to watch and pray. When he came back, he found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, so could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And that's what Paul is telling us here. Wake up, the hour is at hand. You need to be acting as if the Savior is coming today or tomorrow. And if you clean the house and get everything ready, he doesn't come today, dust everything and make the beds tomorrow because you should expect his return then. We ought to be living life every day the way Paul wrote to Titus in chapter 2 verse 13. He said, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Titus, if you're going to be a man of God, you need to be on the lookout. It wasn't just some passages translated as waiting. It's not waiting. It's waiting with anticipation. It's looking for it. It's like a surprise party, like everything's ready. The only thing missing is the surprisee. And we're anxious. We're waiting for them to come in. And he's saying, you need to live your life looking for the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, first admonition here to be the proper citizens based on chapters 1 through 11 is wake up. The next one is clean up. Look at verses 12 and 13. The night is almost gone and the day is at hand. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." Get dressed, clean yourselves, take a shower, get the dirty, filthy stuff away from you and off of you, and dress as if the Savior was coming imminently. Verse 13, he gets down into some of the dirty details. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in carousing and in drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. Don't live like the world. The world likes the darkness, because their deeds are evil. Christians should be looking for the light. And he's saying, wake up. and now clean up, get yourselves ready. 1 John chapter two, verses 28 through chapter three, verse three says this, and now little children abide in him so that when he is manifested, we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame at his coming. None of us want to be in a shameful position when the Savior returns, do we? Won't it be much better if when Christ comes, we're awake, we're clean, we're ready to go? Think of the parable of the 10 virgins for the wedding, and some of them had trimmed their lamps. They were ready for the bridegroom to come, and the others, yeah, they had a lamp, but they were going about their business. They were not concerned about it, and then they missed the wedding party because they had to go get the oil at that point in time. He's saying, live your lives so that we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. Verse 29, if you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who does righteousness has been born of Him. See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we would be called the children of God? And we are. For this reason, the world doesn't know us because it didn't know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it is not yet manifested as yet what we will be. But we know that when he is manifested, we will be like him. Because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. If that is your hope, if we know he's coming, purify ourselves. We clean up. We're ready for him to come at any time. The third admonition here then is grow up. Wake up, clean up, grow up. Look at verse 14, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Put on means to become more like him. Become more like Jesus Christ. To become more like him, we have to become less like the world and less like our old fleshly selves. We've got to grow up. We've got to mature. We've got to be pliable. We are being pressed into a mold. If you are a child of God, you are being conformed to His image, pressed into it. Which worked better? The fresh Play-Doh right out of the bin or the stuff that you'd left the lid off overnight? Sometimes we let too much of the world come in and we're not soft and pliable, and that process of being conformed is more painful. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ now. Don't even give room for the flesh. The lusts are still there. We're all still sinful. We're all still wretched. So the best way to avoid carrying those things out is to not make room for it. Don't put yourself in position. So wake up, clean up, grow up. Based on the doctrines of chapters one through 11 then, we ought to be obedient, reverent, and neighborly citizens. Obedient to the governing authorities, reverent to the governing authorities. Remember we talked about that last week? Neighborly citizens. We ought to be well respected by those whose real citizenship is here. Why do we do that? For wrath's sake, for conscience' sake, for love's sake, most importantly, for Christ's sake. Let me close with this quote from Warren Weir. He said, the Christian who is walking in love is the best citizen and the best witness. And that ought to describe us based on all the good things that have happened to us in chapters 1 through 11. That is all we've got for chapter 13. Anybody have any other thoughts on that? Questions? You see Paul keep reiterating the same things throughout his epistles, whether during the prison times or towards the end of his prison, talking to Timothy. Even Peter himself talks about it in 1 Peter 1.14, when he says, as obedient children, you will not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance. But like the whole is called to you, behold yourselves in all your actions that you do. And then Paul, when he got to verse 12 and 13, he reiterates that in 1 Thessalonians 5. And he talks about those who are asleep, just do their sleeping at night, and those who are drunk, get drunk at night. But for us who are of the day, how does it go? Be sober. Vigilant. Putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the third helmet, the hope of salvation. Yeah, I don't think we pay enough attention to Titus 2.13. It's sometimes one of those verses that we know so well, we kind of just say it or even quote it, if somebody references it, without even thinking about it. Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The idea there is, do you live your life that way? Looking for the blessed hope. Think about when a relative or loved one you haven't seen in a long time is coming to visit. And you know the return is imminent. They're coming tonight. I mean, around our house, that means a lot of cleaning if anybody's coming over. But if we're busy doing the things that are preparing for that person's visit, we're not as tempted to be doing all the other things that are just going to distract us and keep us from getting ready for that. Why? Because the most important thing for us at that point in time is that visit and we want to be ready for that visit. Well, is there any greater visit for us to be preparing for than the Lord Jesus Christ coming to call us home for the wedding consummation and ceremony? And so We absolutely should be constantly looking for that blessed hope. So on Matthew 25, verse 6, it says, at midnight the bride rang out. They said, here is the bridegroom. Come out and meet him. What's her emergence? And I always question myself, does the bridegroom analysis his coming to the bride before he gets here? And when I see that, and I get it, the virgins are falling asleep because the bridegroom is being delayed. So when they wake up, there's an announcement saying, hey, I'm coming. He's coming. So they wake up, they get all the oil ready. Though the other ones realize they're lapped on them, so they go back. So the doors are closed from the last five virgins saying, hey, you were not ready. By those that are ready and those that have oil. I always question this, when in a real wedding in the world, the groom arrives unexpectedly, oh he's an ounce. Yeah, if you've never studied Jewish wedding culture, particularly first century Jewish wedding culture, I would highly recommend that. There's a lot of resources out there because it will give you a much better understanding of the book of Revelation and a lot of things Christ talked about. But in the Jewish wedding culture of that time, the marriage took place at the promise. So you hear about Mary and Joseph being betrothed. Joseph, technically, you know, we look at, we've got the engagement period, but it's not, Married until you have the ceremony well in Jewish wedding basically The betrothal was the deal. That's why Joseph said when he found out he thought Mary had had an affair that he's okay. He's gonna divorce her put her away because She's violated the oath that we've taken but then what would happen is the betrothal would take place the groom would go and Generally back to his father's household or compound and he would prepare a place for he and his bride to come Just like Christ has gone to prepare a place for us and then at the appointed time once all that was done and Unexpectedly, it wasn't announced. It wasn't a okay. He's coming back Sunday The groom would then go and get his bride and so it was a big ceremony in the the crowds would kind of gather and Jewish wedding, you know, we have a party for a few hours and ours, Jewish wedding parties were days. And so, but it would often happen at night or whatever, because then, you know, he would take her back and then they would consummate the marriage and all that. But so that's the concept there in that story. The groom is going to get his bride, and so everybody knows now's the time. And the groom's getting the bride. He's not waiting for people to go get their lamps ready. He's taking the bride back, and then the party's going to begin. And those who weren't ready, the idea there is these are people who know the word. They know the truth. They know how to be saved. They're rich young rulers of the world. The lawyers who quoted the law back to Christ, what was important. And they thought, well, I'll get ready then. They're distracted with the world right now and thinking, I'll get ready for the wedding later. And they missed it. And so. I mean, the imagery, yeah, that was very real according to their marriage customs of that day and very similar to what we see throughout the Book of Revelation and the marriage supper of the Lamb and all that. We are waiting for the son to come get the bride and that's going to be with a large announcement. In this case, there's going to be a trump. Archangel's going to announce it. And then we're going to the place that he has prepared for us. And so a lot of good imagery there. Well, hopefully this is helping you. It's very practical stuff. Should be convicting to most of us. What type of citizen are you? It's not about the earthly leaders, it's about the authority, the source of the authority that's given to them. And so our obedience to God is reflected in how we treat our church members, how we treat our enemies, how we treat the governing authorities, how we treat all of our neighbors, all of those people God brings into our lives. Very practical stuff. Would somebody willing to close us in prayer? I will. Okay. I want to thank you for your word. Thank you for the reminders that we received today. We ask that you would help us to remember what you've put our lives on. Whatever we do and say, always be prepared for your return. or loving those around us, putting them in front of us, or loving them the way we love ourselves truly. I thank you for those reminders from your scripture. I ask for your mercy and strength to do that in our daily lives or reminders during the week to continue to remember that. I ask all these things in Jesus' name.