This morning I’ll be preaching from Romans 13 verses 11 – 13.
11 And knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.12 So then lay aside the deeds of darkness…
13 not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.
There are two things in this text that God wants…He wants us to get up… and to get going.
FIRST is to get up….that’s why Paul begins with the phrase “knowing the time” …something that is clearly the ultimate issue in Paul’s mind.
As Christians our time is limited…either because of death…or the Lord’s return…if you’re not a Christian it’s limited as well…but only in death…we’re living in the time between Christ’s first coming and His second coming…a time referred to as the ‘Church Age.’
Paul is encouraging us as Christians to know the time…to realize that we live in the age of forgiveness and righteousness that came with the arrival of Jesus 2000 years ago…BUT…we’re still captive to the old age of guilt…sin …sickness and death…we live in the overlap of two ages.
Paul wants us to focus on the fact that time is finite…it’s not to be wasted… again…our time is limited either because of death or the Lord’s return.
Time for us all is ticking away second by second…hour by hour…until one day we stop to recognize just how far time has brought us.
For most, this realization happens when your children graduate from high school or college ….when your child marries…when you become grandparents…when you realize you’re the oldest person in the room…these are points of transition.
You realize time has passed…this is what Paul is teaching in this passage…you need to know the time and make every day count because we never know just how many more days on this earth we have!
There are those who believe that God determined the length of our lives…that God decided the number of days we will live…personally I don’t believe it.
But either way…Paul’s point is he wants us to examine ourselves to consider our spiritual condition.
The word here for time is καιρός…meaning opportune time…not clock time… when Paul says knowing the time he’s inquiring into are you making the most of the opportunities God gives you.
For those Christians who are snoozing through life look at verse 11 again.
Paul says…it’s time to wake up…
The natural reaction is…wake up from what?…we need to wake up from our spiritual sleep…from laziness…from apathy …indifference…and complacency …we need to wake up to the urgency of the days in which we live.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins shows the church asleep…a parable about the end of time and the Lord’s return…instead of staying alert…these 10 ladies became spiritually sleepy.
Scripture says five were foolish…but all 10 of them…not just five…were sleeping when they should have been awake.
In the context of Romans 13:11, Paul is telling us what to wake up for…warning believers to be aware of the shortness of time left in your life.
Many Christians are slumbering in a deep spiritual sleep…unaware of God’s purpose to transform and use them.
As a result…they put a giant pause in their relationship with God because they keep hitting the snooze button on God’s alarm and His plans for their lives.
They haven’t advanced spiritually any farther than they were…1, 5, or 10 years ago…knowing only the elementary teaching about Christ [Heb. 6:1] having not spiritually progressed one inch.
Remember Paul is talking to Christians …he’s sounding the alarm to every believer in the church…the time has arrived…it’s time we got up.
That segues into the SECOND point…we need to get going.
God didn’t place you or me here so we could post pictures on social media…or just hang out…He’s placed us where we are because we are in the midst of a battle…a war…you and I are participants in a conflict involving good and evil.
God has put you where you are for such a time as this?
That’s a phrase that gets tossed around frequently without much thought to the original meaning or context.
The book of Esther…one of two books in the Bible that does not mention God’s name…is where this phrase originates from.
The book of Esther is about a Persian king who has been persuaded to annihilate the Jews throughout his empire.
Esther is his queen…she’s Jewish…she wants to avert this disaster by talking to the king…problem…back then not even the queen could talk to the king without his permission…it could result in her death.
She was told by her cousin…that it was no accident that she was the queen of Persia…she was there for a reason…God had allowed her to attain royalty for such a time as this.
She had been given the opportunity to save all the Jews living in Persia…she had been chosen by God to set aside her own interests…to let go of her own ambitions…but it would mean she would have to insert herself into the king’s affairs…something that could cost her, her life…but in Esther’s case:
the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him. [Esther 8:4]
She pleaded her cause and disaster was averted.
Like Esther…maybe not as intense…God has given each of us a job…He has opened opportunities for you to be used.
Good works which God prepared beforehand that we should
walk in them [Eph. 2:10]
To miss a kingdom assignment because we’re too caught up in our personal affairs is one of the greatest tragedies we could ever face.
Heavenly opportunities fly by…as a Christian…if you’re not following Christ as your Savior…seeking opportunities for service…you’re asleep.
I don’t think it would be a stretch for me to say that we live in a fallen world.
It’s a fact that the boundaries get pushed out a little further every month…crime becomes a little more shocking…headlines seem to be more depressing …and the moral line that so many of us grew with gets a little more blurred.
All around us we have reminders that Jesus’s return is getting closer and closer …could be the meaning of [12] The night is almost gone…that’s the importance of staying awake…of not becoming complacent so we don’t wind up like the 5 girls who were sleeping and got left behind.
What Paul is referring to here is the closeness of Christ’s return…now…if the night was almost gone 2000 years ago when Paul wrote this, how much further has the night moved along since then…how much closer is God’s return today?
There are many verses that encourage us and promise us that one day the Lord will return…verses to motivate us to holy living…[Phil. 4:4-7; Titus 2:11-13; Heb. 10:24-25; James 5:7-8; 1 Pet. 4:7-11; 2 Pet. 3:11-14; 1 John 3:2-3).
There are two issues associated with the Lord’s return…both can have a negative effect because of the way people think about Jesus’s return.
ONE…is the danger of being ho-hum about religion…people who have either grown tired of Christianity or see no reason to be associated with the Church.
There’s mounting evidence that people in the ages of 23 and 38 are as likely to say they have no religion…rather than to identify as being Christian.
Christianity means nothing to them…think about the seriousness of this…ages 23 to 38 are the child bearing ages…if as parents they don’t see any urgency in being in the Church how do you think they’re going to raise their kids?
People who are so caught up in their everyday activities that tomorrow’s no different than today…sun comes up…sun goes down…not even the reality that one day they’re going to die distracts them from their ho-hum thoughts about eternity.
The SECOND issue deals with those who are Christians…Christians who are so secure in their eternal destiny but have become lackadaisical in their commitment…simply biding their time…Jesus says there’s a danger in that:
take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, (Luke 21:34).
Paul reiterates:
12 So then lay aside the deeds of darkness…13 not in orgies and
drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.
The natural reaction is…that’s making some awful ugly assumptions… remember…this is addressed to Christians…when you look at these vices you’re probably saying…NOT ME…never would I do that.
These vices are not necessarily identifying the behavior in a Christian’s life…but more closely are representative of the evil that is possible for those who are living a life outside of Christ…rather than the actual sins committed by someone.
It’s not that these people have forsaken Christianity…it’s the type of behavior that represents a life of self-will…these may not be actual vices but are the result of the selfishness that can result when we seek only what’s best for me or what I want…the result has the potential to lead to that type of behavior.
THIRD ISSUE associated with the Lord’s return involves people who are so caught up in how current events are signs of Jesus’ return they become sidetracked…people whose whole thought is on nothing more than we are living in the last days before Jesus returns.
NO WHERE is there any indication that Jesus will come back this year…next year…or ten years…or even a hundred years from now.
People are so obsessed with end time prophecies…being so focused on something that probably will not even happen in their lifetime that they miss out on God’s plan for them now.
Matthew 24-25…known as the Olivet discourse…Jesus makes it clear that the fulfillment of these two chapters is in a time the disciples would never experience…a time that no Christian will ever experience…so why are people so fixated on it?
Jesus was speaking of a coming time of indescribable horror in the world that will focus on the nation of Israel as spoken in…Isaiah…Jeremiah… Daniel… Zechariah…Corinthians…Thessalonians…and Revelation.
There are a number of indicators in Matthew 24 that refer to the distant future…that many people mistake for what is occurring in the world today:
- False Christs [v.5] 2. Wars and rumors of wars [v. 6]
- Famines [v. 7] 4. Pestilences [v. 7]
- Earthquakes [v. 7] 6. Persecution [v. 9]
Does anyone think that these things just started within the last few years? …all these things have been going on since Jesus walked the earth.
That’s why people are saying the same thing today they were saying 2000 years ago: [2 Pet. 3:4]
Where is this ‘coming’ He promised? Ever since our ancestors
died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.
Hal Lindsey in his book ‘The Late Great Planet Earth’ lays out with accuracy some important events that must take place before the tribulation.
1) The Twelve Tribes return to their homeland…started 1948.
2) The Jews to possess the ancient city of Jerusalem…DONE 1967
3) The Jews have to rebuild the Temple on the old Temple site.
4) Reinstatement of Jewish sacrifices.
5) The desecration of the Temple immediately preceding Christ’s return.
SO…is Jesus’ return imminent? …NO…any attempt to tie Matthew 24:1-31 to Christ’s return for His church is exegetically incorrect.
Matt. 24:1-31 has nothing to do with the rapture…imagine Jesus talking about the end times and one of the apostles stands up and says in the middle:… “but hey Jesus….what about the rapture?”
The mystery of the Rapture would not even be revealed until 20 years later.
For those who are serious about end time (eschatological) events…the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple are events that will occur in the future …during the tribulation…they do not apply to believers in the Church Age since they will either have died or been raptured before the Tribulation.
Paul says…salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed [13:11]… that’s strange wording…always thought salvation is believing…is Paul suggesting that salvation is a future event?…Paul’s usage of the term salvation reflects the idea that salvation is a past…present…and future reality…that God’s work in a believer is ‘layered.’
I want us to look at salvation as being layered…a concept that encompasses the past…present…and future…all that is included when we accept Jesus as Savior.
Scripture is clear…redemption…the act whereby God declares us free from sin, begins with salvation and justification…it continues on in regeneration and sanctification… and then is finally brought to completion in our glorification.
SALVATION – The act whereby we confess Jesus as Lord and Savior
REDEMPTION – Jesus paid the price that freed us from sin.
JUSTIFICATION – the act whereby God declares us sin free.
IMPUTATION – the act whereby God imputes Jesus’ righteousness on us
REGENERATION – the act whereby we are spiritually reborn.
SANCTIFICATION – the life-long process of growing spiritually.
GLORIFICATION – the believers’ ultimate and final state of perfection
“In the ultimate sense we do not experience the totality of salvation the moment we {are} born again; that is just one aspect of salvation. The fullness of our salvation will not take place until our glorification when we enter into heaven.”
In these three verses…Paul is encouraging people to awaken from our spiritual sleep…from our unresponsiveness…and inactivity concerning the things of God.
Paul IS NOT addressing unbelievers in this verse…this is not an attempt to get people to become Christians…he’s talking to Christians who have already believed and have been converted…that is evident in the phrase “salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”
The future aspect of our salvation ending in glorification is nearer now than when we first believed…every day we get closer to that appointed time.
Either in death when we go to be with the Lord…or when He returns to remove all sin and bring us into glory.
Let me just say this…it is not my intent to have you question your security in Christ…nor…in this text is Paul instructing us to become Christians all over again.
For those who belong to Christ you are already a new creature in Christ…you are already His children…His holy ones…His loved ones.
What Paul is saying is put on the character that reflects your new identity…that is in essence is what verse [14] is saying: put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
In other New Testament books Paul speaks of ‘putting on Christ’ as something already done [Gal 3:27]
What remains for us as Christians is to…dress like it…live like it…talk like it …and act like it.