Alright, Romans 13, verse 11
and 12. And knowing the time that now
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 life. At regular
attention to the last half of verse 11 again, now is our salvation
nearer than when we believe. I believe I told you that I don't
remember ever taking this as a particular text in all of the
years that I've been trying to preach the Word of the Lord.
So, with that, I'd like to give you a sort of a special introduction
to the message. That is, I wanted to tell you
something before we proceed as to when this text came into my
mind and I became persuaded that the Lord would have me to speak
upon it. I did two things in preparation
for this message this evening. First of all, I read this text
of the Scripture from every version of the Bible that I own or possess
or have in my study. When this text came up, that's
what I did. I took down this version and
that version and the other. And I wanted to see how close
the translation resembled or agreed on the words that make
up our present text. And the finding is that they
all seem to understand the Word generally in one and the same
way. that Paul tells those to whom
he is writing, our salvation is nearer now than when we believed. And then the second thing that
I did is I began to pull down a pile of books and commentaries
of all of my deceased brethren that I might read and see what
they had to say about this passage of the Scripture, to see their
interpretation of the Word. And again, I found that those
we would consider to be sound in Calvinism, or the sovereignty
of God, that again there was general agreement among them
as expressed by Gil in this short quote that Paul had in mind,
quote, the consummate enjoyment of it in heaven, the salvation
of our souls at death, and both of the soul and body at the resurrection
or the ascent, unquote. Now before we consider the more
closely this verse or message, let us be reminded of something,
take notice of something, how the epistle is laid out. How Paul lays out the Roman epistle
for our reading. And with that we notice that
chapter 1 and verse 12, begins what we might call the practical
section of the epistle. It is here that Paul comes to
press upon us our Christian duties and how to live as a Christian,
containing some exhortation, containing instruction to the
child of God, and there are some personal matters that are taken
up in the end of this epistle. Now I remind you again that this
follows Paul's usual order. Doctrine first in Paul's epistle. He would always lay out the doctrine. including correcting any errors
or exposing any heresy, then in the further part of his epistle
he would make the application of the doctrinal truth. And I
think you'll find that every one of his epistles follow that
order. Now the practical or exhortive
or ethical part of the epistle beginning at chapter 12 and verse
1, flows from and is based upon the doctrinal part or the earlier
teaching, the sound doctrine especially, salvation and justification
that he has been treating of in this epistle. So, the thing
that he has laid out as sound doctrine Now he comes to apply
them to the children of God to see how they relate to them and
how they ought to walk and how they ought to live. John Murray,
I like his commentary on Romans, and he put it this way, quote,
Christian ethics must rest upon the foundation of redemptive
accomplishment, unquote. The living of the Christian life
is based upon the truth of that union that the elect have with
Christ, who is our crucified and resurrected Redeemer, and
that our lives that we live now are based upon that work and
its relationship unto us. In other words, to seek to live
the Christian life without a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Titus 1 and 2, is a futile thing indeed. And it produces only
an empty profession, or a hypocrite, or a complete failure. To try to live a Christian life
without Christ, in other words, is doomed to failure. Now the
connection between doctrine is established in chapter 12 and
verse 1. I beseech you Therefore, brethren,
I beseech you, therefore." And the very first exhortation off
of the pen of the apostle is for the Christian to present
their bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God. Living sacrifice, living unto
the glory of God, and then follow various and sundry exhortations
with the apostle, lays out down to the end of the epistle. Now some are short, some of them
are more extended, as in chapter 14, where there he is condescending
to the weaker brethren, and he tells the stronger how they are
to act and conduct themselves in regard unto the consciences
of the weak. And during the course of all
of these exhortations, Paul makes it perfectly clear that a Christian
is not free to live unto the world. The Christian is not free
to walk after the way and the corruption of the flesh. The
Christian is not free to live a selfish and a self-serving
life And also, that salvation is not restricted to this life
only. That salvation does not have
its stronger or its only reference to us in this life only. Certainly, it is the greatest
effect upon our life as we live in this world, but it is not
effective of our life only in this world in which we are living. So with that in mind, in coming
to our text today, and the part that we intend to consider, that
salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. And he
surrounds it with metaphors as we look at it very closely. He
says, it is high time to awake out of sleep. In verse 12, the
night is far spent. The day is at hand. Now what does Paul mean in telling
his readers that their or our salvation is nearer than when
we believe? For if you notice, he includes
himself as well, our or we. The salvation of us is nearer
now. Before we seek to unravel this
thing, Let's bring in a few other scriptures that seem to set forth
like doctrine. Other scriptures that seem to
teach us much the same thing. I'll just give them now. Later,
we might come back and look at them again. Romans 8 and verse
23, we've grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the
redemption of the body of us. In 1 Peter 1 and verse 5, we
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. And again in 1 Peter 1
and verse 9, he says, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your soul. Now in the verse, in Romans 13
and verse 11, This is now the fifth time that Paul has used
the word salvation in the Roman epistle. Five times now he has
used this particular word, including chapter 10 and verse 1, where
it is, might be saved as he talks about his Jewish brethren. So
that Paul says in Romans 10, And verse 1 concerning the Jew,
my heart's desire, my prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved, or literally is for salvation. My prayer to
them is for salvation. The other places in Romans where
the word salvation appears are Romans 1 and verse 16. The word
salvation there, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. In Romans 10 and 10, we have
it again. With the mouth, confession is
made unto salvation. In Romans 11 and 11, we have
it again. Through the fall of the Jew,
salvation is come unto the Gentiles. Now in all five places, It is
a translation of one and the same word. Soteria is the word
that is used here, meaning to deliver, meaning to rescue, meaning
to bring out of a present danger and bring them into safety. To
save, to deliver from danger is the word or the meaning of
the word. And it is found more than 40
times throughout the New Testament, scattered hither, thither, and
yon. Now, as for Romans 13 and verse
11, there are two questions here for us to raise, and the answer
to them will hopefully be edifying unto our soul. Question number
one, who is Paul saying this to? Who is he speaking to? And the second question is, what
does he mean by the words, our salvation is nearer now? As to the first question, he
is addressing the epistle in chapter 1 and verse 7, to all
them that be at Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. And in chapter 1 and verse 8
of Romans, to those whose faith is spoken of far and wide. And in chapter 12 and verse 1,
he opens the oratory part of the epistle by addressing them
as brethren. Those that he is speaking to
are brethren. While in 13 and 11, he applies
it to such as have believed. And again, we notice that the
apostle includes himself, ourself, or we are our. Now perhaps the
most difficult question to be, what is Paul teaching in this
place? Is salvation a thing that is
not sure until one has held out to the very end? Is believing
only the first step? Could there be those who somewhere
along the way will fall out of grace and become apostate? Nay, we deny that. All along,
Paul has spoken of the certainty of that justification which is
in Christ. And declared boldly in chapter
8 and verse 1, there is no condemnation now to them that are in Christ
Jesus. Now the first thing we will acknowledge,
that there have been about three views, three major views, that
have been put forth concerning this passage by expositors over
the period of time, and the word now is salvation nearer than
when we believe. Those three positions that you'll
find the most popular if you chase it out, I think, are as
follows. Number one, there are those who
say that it refers to some coming deliverance from some persecution
against the Christian in that day. Some great persecution that
had made their lives hard and miserable. Secondly, some have
thought that Paul was speaking of a time which he then said
to be near at hand when the gospel would burst out of its bounds
and go out into the entire world. And pagan idolatry would fall
down and over before the gospel and salvation be spread throughout
the heathen world. They who prefer this meaning
might find support in such texts as Acts 13 and 47. I have set thee alight to the
Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth." That's from Isaiah chapter 49 and verse 6. Now there's a third view of this
passage, a major and a popular view. It's what John Gill called,
and I quote, the consummation, the consummate enjoyment of it
in heaven, unquote. And then the question will likely
be raised, when will it occur? Exactly what time does Paul have
in his mind? And there are only two possibilities
it seems. Number one would be at the death
or the demise of a child of God when he takes his leave in the
flesh, or rather the spirit and the body are separated in what
we call death. And the other one would be at
the appearing or the advent of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so which could Paul mean
in Romans 13 and verse 11? Now, let's consider the surrounding
context a bit, and adjoining phrases, and connecting words,
and see if we find any help there. In verse 11a, the first part
of the exhortations that have gone before Paul writes, and
that. And that. Or, and this. Or we could say, indeed. Or we could say, and the more. at Paul's words here, knowing
the time, or some would have it, season. Knowing the time
or the season, and as Murray said, not time in general or
indefinite, but quote, a time with distinct significance, unquote. Distinct significance unto the
children of God or the Christian. The admonition, and this due
knowing the time, that it is time, high time, writes the apostle,
the hour has arrived to be aroused, to wake up out of our sleep. And the sleep can hardly be either
the sleep of unregeneracy or the sleep of physical death,
for Paul is addressing living believers in this place. whose
salvation is nearer, he tells them, than when they had believed. And Paul is putting himself in
that number. He was neither unregenerate nor
had he departed. John Gill called this leap, a
drowsy frame of spirit. And I think in the New Testament,
that's a good description of sleep when we meet with it. Again,
he called it from awareness in spiritual exercises. And in this
sense, sleep is a metaphor for spiritual lethargy of the children
of God. And awake is to become spiritually
alive, awake, and alert. And both sleep and wake correspond
to day and night and darkness and light that Paul is setting
forth by metaphors in this passage of the Scripture. Thus Paul says
to the Ephesians, chapter 5 and verse 14, Awake thou that sleepest. And he says in 1 Corinthians
15, verse 34, Awake to righteousness. Awake! Shake thyself. unto the
exercise of righteousness. These are favorite metaphors
of Paul, and they are so expressive as we see them. Sleep and night
or darkness go together. And awake and day and light also
go together. Or to put it another way, Paul
says to the Thessalonians, In 1 Thessalonians 5 and verses
5 through 8, along about in there, John Eady wrote, sleep and night
go together while sleep and day are incompatible. And Paul talks about they that
sleep in the night, or drunkenness and so forth. And the text found
in 1 Thessalonians 5 and 5, Paul uses the metaphor this way. You
are the children of light. and the children of the day. We are not children of the night
or of darkness." And from that he makes the application in 1
Thessalonians 5, verse 6 and verse 7. Therefore, since we
are the children of light and of the day, let us not sleep
as others who are of the darkness, but let us watch and be sober. In verse 6, verse 8, let us who
are of the day, that is the children of light, be sober as opposed
to those that are drunken in the night. Verse 7, the sleep
is used in three ways in the Bible. It is used as physical
in Mark 4.38. It is used of spiritual in Romans
13.11. And it is used of death. In 1 Corinthians 15, 6 and verse
18, they that sleep, reference to the metaphor for those that
were dead. Now to repeat, sleep portrays
an image of a spiritual lethargy and perhaps indifference, while
to be awake is to become spiritually alert and active, eyes and ears
and understanding wide open to the things of God. Now having
taken that little jaunt, we go back to our original text where
the word, now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. It is given as a reason there. Notice that. It is given as a
reason why they are exhorted to awake out of their sleep. Awake out of your sleep, for
our salvation is nearer." By salvation, Paul cannot mean initial
salvation, that is, first time salvation or believing, nor that
they were lost. He cannot mean that. For he calls
them saints and brethren and believers throughout the epistle.
He thinks that John Murray and others who join with him, are
right with reference to the future as the consummate of salvation,
the consummation of our salvation as to the time in the future.
Knowing the season that the time is at hand, our salvation is
nearer now. Murray said upon this phrase,
this completion is consumatory. This is consummatory, that is,
the completion of the entire saving process, when the ultimate
end of election and redemption are realized. The prayer of the
Lord Jesus Christ is fulfilled in John 17, 24. Father, I will
that they also which you have given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory. This he prayed on the eve before
his arrest and his death. He has a request. It is expressed
to the father, I will. This is his desire when he declares
unto his father that on the eve of his death that this be granted
unto him. Next we see the ones which he
asks in behalf of. Those that thou hast given me,
that is the elect, chosen in Him before the world, those for
whom He died and shed His blood. And lastly, we notice the thing
that He asked for them are in their behalf, that they may be
with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory. On the other hand, the Lord Jesus
said, John 7 and verse 34, to some unregenerate Jews, Where
I am, there you cannot come." Now, it is a teaching of Scripture
that God has purposed to save a great part of Adam's race,
and to bring them to heaven and eternal joy and happiness. And that which is begun in us
while we abide in this world and live in the flesh will be
completely consummated in heaven. that an inheritance is reserved
there, that we are kept by the power of God unto that heavenly
inheritance, and that it is kept, on the other hand, for us, salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1, verse 5, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul. 1 Peter
1, verse 9, So the question then becomes, at what point does Paul
reference as the consummation of salvation? Or what time will
it be full so that it can be said that it is actually fully
consummated? And have all that God intended
in choosing us to eternal and everlasting life in the beginning,
as stated in 2 Thessalonians 2 and 13, correction, 1 Thessalonians
2 and verse 3, or maybe it is 2 Thessalonians. Well, they will
actually experience all that Christ has purchased for them
in His death upon the tree. Now, it seems that there could
be only two possible answers to the question. Now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed? Number one, when we were regenerated
believed and are converted. Or number two, when they die
and their earthly sojourn is over, and they put off this body
of flesh and corruption, when by such the soul passes out of
the body and into the actual presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Or, if there's another, at the
coming of the Lord and the resurrection. some such as the Pentecostal,
some assembly of God, and holy rollers that we have heard about,
might put this at what they call the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
when we receive the absolute fullness of the Spirit and live
a new and an overcoming life. However, this cannot be what
Paul has in mind in this play. And it is safe to say we may
also strike the first notion since Paul is speaking to such
as are already believers, thus are already regenerate and are
already converted. Thus, by the practice of elimination,
we are left with either one or both of the remaining views,
either the death of the saint or the advent of Christ. For the death of the saint, when
this occurs, it is of great advance. for the soul. Paul tells us to
die is gain. Philippians 1.21. Philippians
1.23. To depart is to be with Christ. Again, Paul told Timothy. 2 Timothy
4.8. There is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness. And again, Christ Jesus told
the penitent thief in Luke 24 and verse 23 and 43, This day shalt thou be with me
in paradise." And in Luke 16 and verse 22, when the beggar
died, we read that he was carried by the angel into Abraham's bosom,
and there was unconscious bliss. Now, as far as a fascinating
statement, let's look at Hebrews chapter 12. And verse 24, and
the words, "...the spirits of just men made perfect." And that
will make us scratch our head a little bit. Some take this
to be the disembodied souls of justified saints. In a perfect
state, as John Brown said, the departed spirits of holy and
just persons who, quote, finish their course, have obtained reward."
Manton said, presently after death, the justified soul is
where Christ is. Just as the condemned soul, presently,
shortly after death, is in torment and his condemnation is given
its actual fulfillment. The one has great glory, the
other has great wrath. Another inculminating aspect
of our salvation is nearer. That will be the time when Christ,
in Hebrews 9 and verse 28, shall appear a second time without
sin unto salvation. He will come not with regard
to sin, but salvation. Here again the contrasts are
a once, or first, and a second time. He came once and cometh
a second time. Then, B, sin and salvation. The first time He dealt with
sin and He put it away by the sacrifice of Himself, the second
time our Lord will appear without sin unto salvation. Let me suggest two passages to
consider. in our closing. 1 Peter 7-9 and
Romans 8-18-23. Paul in Romans 8-18 contrasts
or compares present sufferings with a coming state of glory.
To show that present sufferings are not... present sufferings are not inconsistent
with coming glory. If we have great troubles and
great sufferings now, that is not inconsistent with coming
glory and the hope that is involved in that glory. And he illustrates
it by the example of creation, which on account of Adam's sin
is subjected to vanity, Genesis 3, 17 and 18. Perhaps not all creation, but
the earth. The earth is subjected to a curse. But, Paul says, it is subjected
in hope of deliverance. Romans 8 and verse 20. Furthermore,
it, creation, groans and travails in birth pangs. Romans 8, 22. And in verse 23, Paul says, and
not only so, Not only they, but we ourselves,
having the firstfruits of the Spirit, do groan, waiting for,
or eagerly expecting adoption, the redemption of the body. Now Paul said in Philippians
3 and 21, that our vile body shall be changed, that it may
be fashioned or conformed, like unto the glorious body of God,
or Christ, whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself."
Now, Paul refers to this two ways. In Romans 8, 22 and 23,
a manifestation of the sons of God in verse 22. There will be
a manifestation of the sons of God. Our adoption, he calls it.
not our adoption unto salvation, but to wit, the resurrection
or the redemption of the body, and be the adoption, the sonship,
even though now we are the sons of God. 1 John 3, verse 2, we
are the adopted sons of God. He speaks of an adoption of sonship
in Romans 8, when we are delivered from this bondage of corruption
and this life in corrupt flesh, and a corrupt world. So in that
sense, our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The journey has partly been made. It is nearer now than it was
when we first believed. Maybe the children of Israel
in the wilderness is an illustration. They had left. They moved. They
traveled. The borders were nearer than
when they first begun. They were drawing nearer and
nearer to that promised land that God had promised to give
unto them. And we are drawing nearer and
nearer to that full glory that will be ours through Jesus Christ
who loved us and gave himself for us upon the cross. Thank you.