I've heard my story moved the
hardest on my heart. Oh, may the least omission fame
be the way to go. And drive me to the place High aspirations indeed, but
good ones, biblical ones. OK, Romans 13 now, Romans 13. I know I told you we would look
at John 7 tonight. But I have also told you before
not to listen to everything a man tells you. Only listen to what God says. We're going to study the rest
of Romans 13 tonight. John 7 is a more fitting text,
I believe, for a Sunday morning, when generally you have some visitors at least on Sunday
morning. Romans 13 is more suited to the
church and professing believers, but after reading this, I need these
instructions over and over again, more and more. All right, we
stopped with verse 8. Let's begin there. We'll dive
right in. He says, Oh, no man anything
but to love one another. Now, once again, he's not talking
about not incurring monetary debt. He's not saying that we shouldn't
buy anything on credit. That's not what he's saying at
all. Owe no man anything. We saw Sunday morning that in
the Bible study that in the context here, look at verse seven. He says, Render to all their
dues, tribute to whom tribute are the taxes, custom to whom
custom, to whom fear, honor, to whom honor or respect, whatever
is owed or due to whomever, render that. Don't owe what is due. Accept, he said, this, owe no
man anything but to love one another. Owe love. Always feel
indebted in this area. And we all are. Everyone of us
are greatly in debt in this area and in arrears in our payments. And this is what the word comes
to us quite often, like a debit. You ever get a debit from the
bank? I'm sure you haven't. We have. But, and it says insufficient
from the insufficient from and that we're greatly deficient
in this are greatly deficient in this area. This is what he
said. We need to always feel that we owe one another a large
sum of unpaid love. I'm talking about individually
each one of. One another and some of us in
here who barely know one another. I mean that's so though we might
have been coming here together for years. That's just not right. We need to. We need to make amends
for that. So we owe this great debt. So what do you do when you owe
a large sum of money when you go to the bank and you take out
a loan. And you begin to make payments
on. Where we need to start making payments. Weekly pay. Maybe even daily payments maybe
are out there a dollar a day that too much. Not at all call
occasionally. A card a note. Lunch together something. That's
good makes that make good sense. Oh, we're greatly in debt to
one another in this area. We need to start making some
payments on that debt. Look at verse eight. For he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Love is the fulfillment
of the law. Excuse me. No one, he says here, he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Is he saying that if we love
one another then we have completely fulfilled God's holy law and
so therefore we have merited salvation? That seems to be what modern
religion is saying. See, they take a verse like this
out of context and apply it. See, love is all that modern
religion is talking about today, isn't it? If you just love, that's
it. Jesus taught love, just love.
Like a fellow told me one time, doctrine doesn't matter, just
love. Well, that's how ignorant people
are. The world hates God Almighty. The religious world, especially,
hates the God of the Bible. We saw that Sunday morning, didn't
we? In John 7. Preachers aren't preaching
what Christ said. They're not preaching the Word.
And so, and they've taken off the offense of the cross. When talk about, when all the
talk of love and so forth. See, you don't go to men and
women at first with talk of the love of God. Men and women and
young people need to see that God is angry with the wicked
every day. And if we're outside of Christ,
we're under the judgment and the wrath of God. God doesn't
love us at all. And we're in danger of the judgment
outside of Christ. This is what we go to a lost
world with, the message of God's holiness, God's justice, and
God's sovereignty. We're in his hands to do with
as he pleases. And so repent, the kingdom of
God is at hand. What we're going to look at in
a moment, the shortness of time. Flee to Christ, the only sinner's
refuge, sinner's only refuge, lest you perish in the That's
the message. But the religious world goes
out telling everybody that God loves them, so nobody's worried.
And there's no sense of urgency. Well, in the context here, though,
this is talking to believers. Beginning with verse 1, it says,
"...let every soul be subject unto the higher powers." Who's
he talking to? We'll look back at Romans 8 real
quickly. All right, Romans 8. I said there, let every soul
be subject unto the higher power. Romans 8, verse 7, says the carnal
mind, that is the natural man, is enmity against God. That means he hates God. Read on. It is not subject, the
natural man is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed
can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit." So he's not talking to everybody, is he?
And he went on to say, as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God. Well, he's talking to believers,
those who are found in Christ by faith, not having their own
righteousness, which is of the law, or their doing. but found
in Christ by faith, his righteousness imputed to their account. Therefore
God sees them as holy and righteous. His blood shed for the remission
and covering of their sins, and therefore there's no condemnation
to them that are in Christ." That's who he's talking to. All
right? And now, they are new creatures
in Christ, and they're created in Christ Jesus, unto good works,
and so this is what he's building on. Be subject. Now, subject
yourself, be in subjection to your heavenly Father. Right?
You are no longer children of wrath, even as others, Terry,
but now you're a child of God if God has put in your heart
that spirit of adoption whereby you call this holy God your Father. Therefore, you're no longer a
child of wrath. so therefore be in subjection
to your heavenly Father. So this is who he's talking to,
right? All right, so he says, now he
that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Now, no one can fulfill
the law to the extent that God will justify them, or that is,
Paul had already said back through Romans Hadn't he said that by
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified? Didn't he
say that? He said that over and over again.
That's clear. That's the reason you can't pull out a verse, isn't
it, John? You can't pull out a verse out of Romans 13. You've
got to have read the first twelve chapters. All right? He's not talking about
justification. Same as James wasn't talking
about justification. All right? We'd better look to Christ for
that. We'd better be looking to Christ for that perfection
before a holy God, because only Christ has loved perfectly and
fulfilled that law perfectly. Right? Now the law says, love
your neighbor as yourself. Doesn't it? Anybody in here done
that? Has anybody in here come even
close to doing that? Well, who has ever done that?
Christ is the only one that has. OK? So in him, you say, in him
we have fulfilled this law. We have fulfilled this law. But
at the same token, at the same token, we're under
the law of Christ. Paul said in Romans, he said,
or 1 Corinthians, he said, it's not as though we're not under
the law, but we're under the law of the Christ. OK? Are you with me? We're under
the law of Christ. Whatever he says, do it. Like
Mary said. do it. Are we free to break anything
that Christ said? No. Christ said if any man breaks
the commandment or teaches any man otherwise, he's least in
the case. Well, what did Christ command
us? Basically, he said this is this
is my commandment. You remember? This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you. This is my commandment, that
you love one another as I have loved you. Fulfill that law of
His. Now that's a law and we're commanded
to keep it from Christ. Perfectly? It's impossible. We can't love, you can't love
me like Christ loved me. Can you? Oh no, greater love
hath no man than this. Right? Nevertheless, John, he
says do it. The command still stands. He
knows our frames. He knows our frame. He remembereth
our frame. But he says do it. Do it anyway. And that's why we owe so much,
isn't it? You see, that's why we owe so
much. That's the reason we're always in debt. If I were a rich
man, I would not have any debts. I wouldn't owe any money at all.
I just had cash coming out of my pockets, you know. No debts
to anybody, but I'm not. And therefore, we have debts. And you're the same. And we're
very poor. We're poor in spirit. And we're
poor in grace. And we need more grace. This
grace. We owe a lot of this. And we
have to borrow from Him. Talk about making a loan at the
bank and making stuff. He's the one, right? He owns
it all. All grace. He's the God of all
grace. We have to go to him to get it. But he delights to give
it. He giveth more. He giveth more. All right. Now look at verse
9. He said, The law is fulfilled
in this. Verse 9. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Now, wait a minute. Let's stop. If you go to the
first four laws of the, I'm talking about the moral law, the Ten
Commandments. The first four laws of the Ten
Commandments, thou shalt have no other God before me, thou
shalt not make any graven images unto thyself, thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy. Now these four laws are toward
whom? Toward God. Now, those laws are
fulfilled in this, love God. If you love God, you won't have
any other gods before you. Right? If you really love God,
and God as God, I mean, if you really love the holy and righteous
God of the Scripture, whose honor is very dear to you. I need to
raise this up. If you love the God of the Scriptures,
well, you won't make any graven images. You won't be an idolater. If you love the God of the Scripture
and His honor and His glory is very precious, very dear to you,
you won't take His name in vain. You won't ever use His name in
any way but in reverence and respect and holy fear, right? If you love the God of the Scripture,
if you love Christ of the Scriptures you rest in Christ. You'll be
yourself. Right. So if that's so the first
four laws are are fulfilled in the love. Love says why is this
love is a film of the law are you with me. All right the last
six are toward. Man I look at verse nine he leaves
out Well, two of them are comprehended in one verse nine. That shall
not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. If there be any other commandment,
it's briefly or concisely comprehended or all. It's all understood in this saying, namely,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, because, verse ten,
love worketh no ill to his neighbor. In other words, love won't, if
you love somebody, you won't want to steal their wife. If
you love somebody, you won't want to kill them, murder them.
If you love somebody, you won't want to steal their goods and
so on, right? That's very easy to understand.
This is why it says love your neighbor. Do you remember when they argued
one time, who is my neighbor? Let's not get caught up in that. He doesn't say brother. He says neighbor, doesn't he?
We know who our neighbor is. It's the guy that lives next
door to me. And if we're in any doubt, he
says, love your enemies. So that'll tell us more. Love worketh no ill. And then
we just read over there in Romans 12, where he says, Bless them
which persecute you, bless and curse not. Recompense to no man evil for
evil. Live peaceably with all men.
Avenge not yourselves if your enemy hunger, fever, and so forth. All right. So love worketh no
ill. Love is a fulfillment. All right,
verse 11. 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. Now what's that got to do with
what he just said? Did you think that when you read
that? I'm not thinking just talking
about loving one another. And now he says, and now, knowing
the time, it's high time to wake up and sleep. What's that got
to do with loving one another? Did you, did that cross your
mind? It did mine. Maybe it didn't your, it did
mine. I thought, what's, where, sounds like he's starting a new
thought. No, he says and. And the time all right knowing
the time you know the time. What time is now you know that. I'm not talking about a team.
And talk about the time we live in. You know the time. And you discern the time. We've been, you know, it's no
coincidence that we've been studying this time for a few years now. It seems like it comes up on
every occasion, doesn't it? Why? Because time is short. Paul said in 2
Timothy 3, in the last days perilous times shall come. And then he
lists all those things that are a perfect description of 1997. I mean, never has it fit a time
more than this one. Never. We studied, when was it,
last Wednesday night? Was it last Wednesday, Genesis
6? It was, wasn't it? I don't know why we keep being
impressed. I do know why we keep being impressed with this. Time
is short. This is what he's saying. Knowing
the time. The last time. The end time.
The time right before Christ comes. The world doesn't know
it. It doesn't care. Believers do. They're watching and waiting. So why does he say this? The
reason he brings this up here. He says because the time is so
short. Another place, Paul said, the
time of my departure is at hand. The time of our departure is
at hand. It is, humanly speaking, much
closer for some. Look at verse 11. Now is our
salvation nearer than when we believe. Charles Ross, you're
over 70 years old, man. That's it. Isn't it? That's all. And all God promises
us. Three score and ten. That's it. He's living on borrowed time
now, isn't he? Huh? Joe Parks, how old are you now?
Fifty-nine? Eleven more years, buddy. What's eleven years? What is
eleven years? I was eleven years old. That's it. Does this make bring
it a little closer? Huh? There you're over fifty
years old. Right? I tell you what, Scripture says,
Oh, that they were wise and would consider their latter in. This thing is drawn to a close
very, very rapidly. Very rapidly. So he says, knowing
the time. Knowing the time. We should be
spending our time with that in mind. Right? We should be spending
our time with that in mind. preparation for eternity. Right? Where are we going to spend eternity?
Who are we going to spend eternity with? Hopefully, if we spend it with Him now,
we'll spend it with Him then. Well, who else? All right, now does that make
sense? reason he brings this up. It's time we started nurturing
the relationships, not only with Christ, but with one another,
because it's over. Earthly relationships are over.
There's a scripture that says, the time is coming. The time, it remaineth, here's
what it says, 1 Corinthians 7, it remaineth that those that
have wives be as though they had none. Mindy's not going to be my wife
in heaven. Right? That's right. So I'm not
going to spend all my time nurturing our relationship at the expense
of other brothers and sisters. This is what he's saying here. This is what he's saying here. When Christ was about to go to
the cross, just before that, they came in and said, your mother
wants to see you. And he said, who's my mother? Now, he was in subjection to
that woman for 30 some years, wasn't he? In strict subjection
to his mother. Yes, he was. In the time of his
departure was at hand, he said, Who's my mother? Who's my brother? He said, I'm my mother and my
brother is who I'm going to spend eternity with. So nurture those relationships.
That's what he's saying. That's what he's saying. All right, look at verse, now
let me read what, A famous commentary said on this. It says in verse
11, it's high time to wake out of sleep. To wake out of sleep. For now
is our salvation nearer than when we believed. This is written
to believers. To believers who may have grown
careless or indifferent in their relationship to Christ and the
Church. It's time to wake out of indifference, carelessness,
or divided attention and be about the Master's business. Final deliverance, our eternal
rest, are much nearer than when we first believe. Some of us
will be called away from this earth in a very little while,
very shortly. Our relationship with Christ
should be our main concern. famous commentary, Henry Mann. He says it's time to wake out
of sleep. Time to wake out of sleep. Paul upbraided the Hebrews,
and he said, you ought to be teachers, but you're
dull of hearing. And that applies. So we need
to wake out of sleep, he says. Now is our salvation nearer than
when we believe. And you know, it shows if we're. When Paul became an older man. He said. When I was a child, I spoke as
a child, I did this as a child and so forth, when I became a
man, I put away childish things. My thoughts and my pursuits and
things matured a little bit. A whole lot. So it's high time. It's high time. You know that
old saying? You ever heard that saying or
used that saying? It's high time. Son, it's high
time you straighten that. You ever use that, Joe? Have
it used on you? Yo, it's high time, son. But
you get out of this house and find you a woman or something.
It's high time. This is exactly what our Heavenly
Father is saying to us. Barbara, it's high time. Your
salvation is much nearer. You're mature. You're an older
woman now. You don't look it, but you're
older now. It's high time to awake as one
out of sleep, spiritual sleep in a stupor. And say, hey, I'm
about to face God. I better do what really matters. I better pursue what matters.
He gives more grace. We can start now if we didn't
yesterday. Now's the time. Today's the day
of salvation. Now's our salvation. Lord, quicken
me. Say this, Lord, quicken me according
to your word. Lighten mine eyes lest I sleep
to sleep of death. All right, look at verse 12.
He says, "...the night is far spent, the day is at hand." The night
is far spent, this world of darkness. This world of darkness is what
he's talking about. It's almost over, this night
time. It's night time right now. Do you know that? It's the eleventh hour, is what
it is. It's dark at eleven o'clock and Actually, in the old Jews, the
eleventh hour was right before dawn. This is what he's talking
about. Night is far spent. It's about
over. This night of darkness, this
world of sin and of death and disease and poverty and war and
violence and wickedness and just sin, the prince of the power
of the air, the rulers of the darkness. of this world, it's about the day is at hand. The day is at hand. Eternal day. When Christ, the bright and morning
star, the day spring, the son of righteousness, is going to
be set forth by the Father in his permanent place And we go
to live in him, with him. So he says in verse 12, let us
therefore cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the
armor of light. Put aside those things which
do not contribute to enlightenment. Put aside those things. What is that? What is that? That sin which
does so easily beset us, what is that? Everybody in here has
it, full of it. What is it? Say it. Unbelief. Where is the promise of his coming?
All things continue as they are. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise. Beloved, be not ignorant of this one fact, and
so on. The long-suffering of the Lord is salvation. Maybe
waiting to save another one of your children or you. But he's coming. He's coming. The day is at hand. Lay aside
the sin. In other words, the tendency
to quit. That's unbelief. That's what that is. Listening
to the world. Maybe cloning is true. Maybe, you know, maybe there
is life on Mars. That means there's no God. That's
exactly what that means. That's exactly what that means.
If you choose to believe that claptrap, you have no God. That's just putting it real plainly.
If you choose to believe science, falsely so-called, rather than
what God says here, You're going to die with the world. You're
going to die with it. Lay aside that sin which doth
so easily beset us. Lay aside the rolling oak tire
and pick up your Bible. That's an easy way of doing it. Put aside, lay aside those things,
sin which doth so easily beset us. Cast off the works of darkness.
Let us put on the armor of light. All right, look at that. Look
at that. I look at that verse, the last part of verse twelve.
Let us put on the armor of light. Let us put on the armor of light. What does that mean? Well, armor is protection. Put
on your protection. All right, what is this light,
this armor of light? What is this light? Huh? You say Christ is the light.
Okay. Where is Christ found? Right. Thy word is a lamp unto
my feet and a light unto my path. The entrance of thy words gives
light. All right? This is the light
of his word. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death." Lighten me, enlighten me. Put on the armor of light, which
all the wiles of this world and all the beliefs and all the so-called
discoveries of this world. Now, we're not closing our eyes
to this. We dealt with that last Wednesday. End of that, didn't
we? We're not closing our eyes to all these so-called discoveries.
We've. We've. We've. We've confronted
those head on. You know I feel a little bit
guilty about spending so much time on all that. But you're
not afraid to confront those things. Not at all. But. So much for that. This gives
life and understanding. It makes the and you see. The
scripture says, hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this
world? After you see true wisdom, after he's made unto you wisdom,
and after he has abounded toward you in all wisdom
and prudence, like he said, Vicki, in Ephesians 1, in making known
the mystery of his will to you, hath not, isn't the wisdom of
this world utterly preposterous? Isn't it? utterly preposterous utterly
completely absurd. Wisdom is where you see how that
one thing rises up and everybody falls for and then it dies out
and something new comes up and it just keeps on doing that now
through the year. God remains the same. And so
will you. If you're grounded and settled
in the truth and you're enlightened And you have this armor of light
on and all these darts won't pierce your mind. Did you hear
the other day? No, I didn't hear it. I wasn't
listening. Why, you should have. People ask me, did you see on
the news? Well, sometimes I read it and
sometimes I don't. Most times I don't. And you know,
I've gone times, there's been times I've gone months without
looking at the newspaper or reading the newspaper or Yeah, reading
or hearing, looking at TV news, or reading the newspaper. Gone
extended lengths of time. And you know, I just didn't miss
a thing. I mean, nothing, you know, all
my stocks, I don't have any. It doesn't matter. It just doesn't
matter. We'll wait, look, look what's
happening. It's not going to make any difference. It's not
going to make a bit of difference. Time is just rolling on toward
eternity, and the only thing that matters is this right here, and eternity
is near. That's what matters. That ought
to make a man think. The brevity of time. Well, verse
13, let us walk honestly. as in the day. Walk decently,
he's saying, as in the day. As in the day. You know, most
crime and wickedness goes on under so-called cover of darkness,
doesn't it? So he said, let's walk all the
time as in the day. Or as in faith in Christ. You
could spiritualize this, couldn't you? What sort of things are
pure, true, honest, and so forth. Not in rioting, read on, not
in rioting and drunkenness. Riotous living, another word.
Drunkenness, not in chambering. Chambering, I've looked that
up, that means the bedchamber, lying in bed. And that brings wantonness, wanton
thoughts and so forth. Not in strife and envying. Or
that is bickering and quarreling and you know that sort of thing
occurs most likely between husband and wife they spend the most
time together so that's the rebuke to husband and wife. Envying,
jealous of other people and so forth. Now do believers need to be told
these things? Rioting, drunkenness, chambering, If they didn't, he wouldn't have
written it. And we need to remember, he says
over in 1 Corinthians 6, the unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom. Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, nor abusers
of themselves or mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of
God. Such were some of you, but you're washed, you're sanctified."
So, yeah, believers need to hear that, or he wouldn't have written
it. All right, the last verse here now. He says, "...put on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh,
to fulfill the lusts thereof." Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
make no provision for the flesh. You know what it means to make
provision for the flesh, don't you? Sure we do. Put on Christ, he said. Faith
and conduct. You put on Christ, listen to
me, you put on Christ by putting yourself under his influence. Isn't that right? Does that make
sense, Brother Ed? Where is Christ? He said, where
two or three are gathered, that's where I'll be. Under his, that's
where his influence will be felt, right? That's where his spirit
will be felt, right? Every opportunity. That's a good
way to put on cry. And it's daily. That does not
preclude or usurp your own personal walk with cry. Not at all. here my Lord send me make me
and for me put on crime and make not provision for the flesh to
fulfill the lust thereof, but nobody in here needs me to comment
on it. I'm going to anyway. One more
minute. Make not provision for the flesh
to fulfill the lust thereof. Do not put yourself in position
to sin. That's what he's saying. Do not put things before your
eyes which tempt you. Do not go where temptation is. Do not associate with evil communication,
because they do what? Corrupt good men. So the converse
of that would be go where good is, go where Christ is, communicate
with those who edify you, not corrupt you. Right? David said,
I'm a companion of them that fear thee. Generally, the world, you know,
whoever you rub shoulders with is what will rub off on you.
Right? Whoever you're rubbing shoulders
with is what's going to rub off on you. Well, I want to find
somebody that smells good. Don't you? Somebody with a little
bit of sweet smelling flavor of Christ and there's a young
woman. With him. I got buddy up with
him. Maybe I rub off on me that is
just plain. Plain listen I dug up. With Terry's
help we went through four years worth of bulletins this evening
to find this You reckon you could pay attention to it for 30 seconds?
Four years worth of bulletins to find this. All right, listen.
This is by Brother Scott Richardson. Some things not worth it. There are many ways to waste
precious time. There are books not worth reading.
Television not worth watching. Thoughts not worth thinking.
Places not worth going. Games not worth playing. Buildings
not worth building. Wars not worth fighting. Victories
not worth winning. Friends not worth making. Songs
not worth singing. Appointments not worth keeping.
Pain not worth causing. Enemies not worth hating. Prayers
not worth praying, sermons not worth preaching, lessons not
worth learning. Remember eternity. That's a good
article. And that's a comment on Romans
13 that we just looked at. I hope it's been some help to
you. It has me. That's the reason I brought it. I needed it. All
right, let's stand. be dismissed in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we are so
glad you know our frame and you remember that we are dust. We
are indeed, but dust and ashes. You said also that the Spirit
is willing of that spirit that you put within every child of
God, spirit of adoption. But the flesh is so weak in that
law of wars in our members. We're so glad you know that.
And we know it. We feel it. We mourn it. We hate
it. And oh, Lord, we know this also,
that you have promised and said many things regarding our help in time of need. And so we bow our heads in shame, ask your
forgiveness for not heeding you as we should, and ask for your
strength, your grace to begin to do so now. and not grieve
your Holy Spirit, but rather heed your Holy Spirit and listen
to him. Walk in the Spirit and not fulfill
the lust of the flesh. O Lord, strengthen us. Strengthen
the weak hands and the feeble knees, O Lord. Young and old
believers alike, we all need this strength, this strengthening
by you. You are our strength without
whom we can do nothing, nothing, young or old. So we ask for your
help. Oh, Lord, don't let this world
take this word from us as the fowls remove the seed, but plant
it. Oh, Lord. Romans 13, thank you
for it. Now, till we meet again on the
first day of the week, may we seek your face together. In Christ's
name, amen.