Let's open our Bibles again to
Romans chapter 13. I titled the message this morning, Our Redemption
Drawth Nigh. I want to begin this morning
looking at the phrase found at the end of verse 11. For now
is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Now that phrase
comes near the end of Paul's masterpiece of the letter. that
shows us so clearly, you can't be mistaken when you read Paul's
letter to the church at Rome, that sinners can only be saved
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is something that's
already accomplished. That finished salvation, completed
salvation, is received by a sinner through faith in Christ. Salvation
is by faith, not by works. Our works cannot add anything
to a salvation that's already finished. Christ finished it.
So our works can't add to it. As a matter of fact, if we try
to add our works to salvation that's been completed by Christ,
if we try to have Christ plus our works, we're going to ruin
it. We'll have no salvation whatsoever
and be damned. Salvation has been completed
by Christ. Salvation is complete in Christ. That's what Paul's told us so
far in his letter here to the church at Rome. Now, since salvation
is complete, this is my question. Why does Paul say then that our
salvation is nearer now than when we first believed? Well,
it's because the enjoyment of that salvation is nearer today
than when we first believed Christ. The perfection, the completion
of that salvation is going to be enjoyed when we're in glory.
And every one of us is a whole lot nearer to leaving this life
than we were before. Is that right? We're nearer to
leaving this life than we were yesterday. We're nearer to leaving
this life than we were this morning when we woke up. And to the believer,
we're a whole lot nearer to leaving this life. I hesitate to even
call this life. It ain't much of a life. But
we're nearer to leaving this life and entering into life,
entering into glory. We're nearer to that than when
we first believed, aren't we? Now this salvation is a very, very
big subject. I want you to look back at 2
Corinthians chapter 1. Or over, I'm sorry. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Salvation
is a big subject. It's an eternal subject. Because
it's come from the mind and the character of the eternal God. Salvation is such a big scripture,
or such a big subject, that scripture refers to it in all three verb
tenses. I hesitate to give anybody English
lesson of any kind in the presence of Sandy Thornberry, but English
was by far my weakest subject. But I think I got a pretty good
grasp on past, present, and future. And scripture refers to salvation
in all three of those verb tenses. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 9. But we have the sentence of death
in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God,
which raised up the dead, who delivered us. from so great a
death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver
us. Now, there's three verb tenses.
Who delivered us, that's past. Who doth deliver us, that's present.
And who will yet deliver us, that's future. Now, people who
like to fancy themselves theologians, they want to look into all these
deep mysteries of God. They love to figure out and argue
about, when is a sinner justified? When is a sinner saved? You know,
I'm a whole lot more concerned with whether or not I am justified,
aren't you? But they love to argue about
when did that happen? They say, is it when the father elected
a people to save before he created anything, put them in his son?
Is that when they were saved? Were they saved or were they
justified when Christ died and actually shed his blood at Calvary
Street? Is that when they were justified? Are we justified? Are we saved at that moment when
we believe Christ, when his blood is applied to our hearts? Or
are we saved? Are we justified when we awaken
His likeness and glory? Which is it? They love to argue
about that. And I've been asked this question several times.
And my answer is always the exact same answer. Yes. Which is it? Yes. It's all four. You can't put that salvation
in just one of those buckets. It must be all four. If you miss
one, there's no salvation there at all. It must be all four.
So first, let's look at the past tense. God has saved us. That's described in the past
tense because salvation in Christ is eternal. Look at Romans chapter
8. Salvation in Christ is eternal. God's elect were saved the very
moment God chose to save them. Romans 8 verse 29. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. See, all those things are written
in the past tense because salvation's eternal. Look at 2 Timothy chapter
one. God's elect were saved the very
moment he chose them unto salvation. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9. Who hath saved us and called
us within a holy calling, not according to our words, but according
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. See, God has saved us, that's
past tense, before the world began. That happened the moment
he elected a people according to his purpose. That's why when
Paul and Barnabas preached at Antioch and they got done preaching,
as many as were ordained into eternal life believed. As many
as God chose under salvation believed. God's elect have always
been seen by the Father. There's never been a time that
the Father viewed his people outside of Christ, the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Those people, in the eyes of
God, the purpose of God, have always been washed in the blood
of the Lamb. That's what theologians call
eternal justification. And I love that. I love it. Isaiah
45, verse 17 says, Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an
everlasting salvation. A salvation everlasting doesn't
just begin with me. You know, we're so self-centered.
We think everlasting begins with me and goes on after that. Everlasting
doesn't have a beginning or an ending. That's the salvation
of God's people. It's everlasting, eternal. And
I love eternal justification. Because you know what that means?
It means I can't do anything to mess it up. I can't do anything
to lose it. It's eternal. That's the past
tense. I hear second. God's elect were
justified. They were saved the very moment
that Christ died for them. Now that's past tense to us,
isn't it? His future tends to David. His future tends to Enoch. His future tends to all the prophets. But they were just as saved,
weren't they? Because salvation in Christ is eternal. Christ
is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. But if God's elect
will be saved, Christ must actually come and die in time. And that's just what he did.
And the blood that Christ shed in his death at Calvary Street
was a sacrifice for sin. That blood was offered to the
Father. And that blood saved His people. Put away their sin. Paul says in Ephesians 1 verse
7, In whom we have redemption through His blood. The blood
of Christ saved His people from their sin. I tell you this often. Justified is not just as if I'd
never sinned. is to be made so I have never
sinned. Hebrews chapter 10. Justified is to be made perfect. And that's what the blood of
Christ did. It made his people perfect. Hebrews chapter 10,
verse 10. By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest standeth daily, the Old Testament priest, ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand
of God. He sat down because the work
was finished. It was completed. From henceforth expecting until
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Now that was the purpose of the
sacrifice of Christ, to perfect forever them that are sanctified.
Here's the million dollar question. Did he do it? Was his blood enough? The blood was offered before
God, wasn't it? The blood was offered to the father. What did
the father say? Verse 17, their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. The very moment Christ died,
all of God's elect were justified. because his blood paid the redemption
price in full. When he cried, it is finished.
Salvation was finished. It was accomplished. And I love
that. I just love it. I find so much
comfort in that because this I know, I cannot undo anything
the Son of God finished. I can't undo it. All right, third,
God select or save. They're justified when they believe
Christ. That's the present tense. Not
just that I did believe him, but do I believe him right now?
That's when we're justified. We're saved. We believe on Christ.
Paul showed us that in his letter. Salvation is by faith. By faith
in Christ. There's no salvation. There's
no eternal life. No blessing from God without
faith in Christ. Now, faith is not what saves. You know that. It's Christ who
saves. But faith receives everything that Christ is. rest in Christ
who is our salvation. And Paul wrote this letter to
the church at Rome, so we'd be sure to understand that salvation
is by faith, by believing Christ. It's not by our religious works
or our morality, it's through faith in Christ. Salvation was
earned by the faith of Christ, by the faithfulness of Christ
to obey the law perfectly for his people, by the faithfulness
of Christ to endure the cross, to be made a sacrifice for the
sin of his people, It's a faithfulness of him to do everything it took
to save his people. And that is received through
faith in Christ. And our works don't contribute
to it at all, do they? Not at all. Ephesians chapter
two. Our works do not contribute to
this at all. If you would be saved, you must
believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we receive
Christ. We rest in him by faith. Ephesians
chapter two, verse eight. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. All right, now another scripture,
2 Peter 1. Peter makes a very interesting
statement here. It kind of ties together this
past, present, and future. 2 Peter 1, verse 10. Wherefore, the rather brethren
give diligence to make your calling and election. Sure. For if you
do these things, he shall never fall. Now, how can I make my
calling an election? Sure, that's that's a work of
God. The father elected the people. The Holy Spirit calls the people.
How can I make this past tense sure in the present tense? How
can I do that? Well, there's just one way. There's
only one way. It's faith. It's faith. The only
way I can know that God elected me is do I have faith in Christ.
If I have faith in Christ, the Father elected me. Because this
gift of faith that Paul told the church at Ephesus about,
this gift of faith is the gift the Father gives everyone he
chose unto salvation. The only evidence that God has
saved us is faith in Christ. Like I said a minute ago, this
faith in Christ is not something I believed in a long time ago.
I made a decision a long time ago. Faith in Christ is a present
tense thing. It's do I believe him right now?
That's not so much do I believe him yesterday, although I hope
I did, I think I did. But here's the question, do I
believe him right now? The evidence of salvation is
faith in Christ. And then fourthly, the days coming
when God's elect are going to be plumb-sided. They'll be absolutely
justified when we awake in Christ's likeness and glory. Now that's
future tense, isn't it? Remember when Paul said he will
yet deliver us? We are saved. But this is also
true. We're being saved. We are being
saved. It has to be so. Our salvation
is not complete yet, is it? Here we sit in these bodies of
flesh, these sinful bodies of flesh. These bodies can't go
into the holy presence of God. But there's a day coming when
we'll be able to. When God will deliver us from
these bodies of sin and take us to be with him. and then we'll
be delivered. Then we'll be saved. We'll be
plumb saved. This thing about being saved,
if we would be saved, we must endure to the end. This thing
of salvation is not a decision we made some time ago. You know,
you mark it on the calendar and celebrate it like it's your birthday
every year. No, that's not. We are being saved. Let's not get too full of ourselves
here. We're being saved. Look at Matthew
chapter 10. We must endure to the end. Matthew chapter 10 verse 22. And you should be hated of all
men for my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end
shall be saved. True faith endures to the end,
and it will not quit in the face of persecution and hatred. Matthew
chapter 24, verse 11. And many false prophets shall
arise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold. but he that shall endure to the
end, the same shall be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations,
and then shall come the end. He that will endure to the end
shall be saved. True faith's not gonna be deceived
by a false prophet to make us turn away from Christ, but it
keeps trusting Christ alone all the way to the end. One more
scripture on this point, Hebrews chapter three. We just look at three scriptures
here, but the word of God has a lot to say about enduring to
the end. Hebrews chapter three, verse
six. But Christ as a son over his
own house, whose house are we? If we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. How do we know
we're part of the body of Christ? He is the son over his own house.
How do we know that we're in his house? If we endure to the
end. That's how we know. And I read
those scriptures and I have to tell you, I find a lot of assurance. I find a lot of joy here. You
might think, well, how can you find so much confidence and assurance
there? We've got to endure to the end.
I might always live in doubt. Well, here's why I find so much
assurance here. If I have to endure to the end in order to
be saved, I am forced to depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I
can't trust in myself because I'll fail and I'll not endure
the next second. But if I trust Christ, I'll endure
to the end because he'll never fail to keep me. I find comfort
in that. I find comfort in living in dependence
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I love to live in hope. So that
hope is an expectation of receiving everything that Christ promised.
Now, please listen to me. This enduring to the end does
not mean we constantly have to doubt our salvation. People like
to appear real holy and say, well, hope I'll be saved, you
know, just constantly living in doubt. Now, that is to shame
the name of our Savior. To live in hope simply means
that the believer lives depending upon Christ for everything. If
I'm depending on Christ for everything, Mike, I've got to be saved, don't
I? I've got to. It's depending upon. There's
no doubt there whatsoever. It's depending upon him. That's
the only way salvation can be sure. The only way we can endure
to the end is depending upon Christ. It's always been that
way. Job, they say, is the oldest
written book in the Bible. First one written, written before
Genesis, Nexus, and so forth. You know what Job said? I know my Redeemer. I'm going
to see him on this earth. I know it. I'm looking for him. I'm depending upon him. David
said, I'm going to behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be
satisfied when I awake in thy light. Now I'm depending on Christ
to do it. That's the way it's always been.
That's the past, present, and future salvation. We are saved.
We're being saved by God's grace. All one day we will be saved. But we also know this about justification. We're justified before men by
our works. We're justified before God by
the faith of Christ, by his blood. But we're justified before men
by our works. And that brings us back to the
text and the present tense of this verb. Our faith is proved
to be genuine faith when we act upon it. Isn't that what James
taught us about Abraham and Rahab? Abraham proved he had genuine
faith in God when he offered Isaac his son. Rahab proved she
had genuine faith when she hung that scarlet line in the window.
True saving faith is not dead theology. True saving faith in
the heart must have happened. It must. Faith in the heart must
be seen in our actions. It just it can't help but show
itself. And in our text, that's what the Apostle Paul is talking
about. Verse 11, he says, 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 believe. Here's what Paul's saying. Brethren,
it's time to wake up. High time to wake up. He's not
talking about being woken up spiritually in the new birth.
He's talking to believers who've already been given spiritual
life. They've already been born again. What he's talking about
is a spiritual sleep, a spiritual stupor. We need to wake up out
of that. Remember in our study of the
Song of Solomon? The bride fell into a spiritual stupor. She
was in bed, she was all comfortable, and the bridegroom came. She
said, oh, I don't want to get up and get my feet dirty. I don't
want to get up and put my house coat back on. I don't want to
have to. She was in a spiritual stupor, wasn't she? Spiritually
drowsy and lazy. And what caused, what happened?
She missed time with her glove. She had to go run looking for
it. Being asleep spiritually is something
that believers can go through. congregation can go through.
Being asleep spiritually, lazy spiritually. Is to just go through
the motions of religion. Just the motions. Is to seek. To want to learn things about
Christ. To learn things about the scripture.
Not seeking to learn Christ himself. Not seeking Christ himself. There's
a big difference. To be spiritually sleepy and
then stupid. It's to go through the motions
of religion. I'm not talking about going down to the Catholic
church and standing up and sitting down and bowing and doing all
the motions. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about coming
to the house of the Lord where the gospel is preached and just
going through the motions. This breaks every believer's
heart. This is all big deal. And we find we're just going
through the motions, but our heart doesn't burn with the need
of Christ. It's yeah, I should go to church
on Sunday morning. I should go to church on Wednesday night,
but it's not. I'm going to go to service because
I need Christ. It's not going because I got an empty bucket
and I need God to fill it. It's not earning with the need
of him like it used to. To be asleep spiritually in the
stupor, it's to go through the motions of religion, not missing
a service and not missing all the things you. But your daily
life just not effective. It's not, you're being, you find
yourself being affected by the world, not by the word of God.
It's to grow lukewarm about serving one another, about paying our
debt of love and gratitude to one another. And that happens
to believers now. Remember Matthew 25, you're ready
to open the service. Those 10 virgins, while the bridegroom
carried, every last one of them slumbered. The wise ones and
the foolish ones. This happens to believers. And
Paul tells us, wake up. Now wake up. Don't be asleep. When we're asleep, we look like
we're dead. Paul tells us, wake up. So you'll
look like you're dead. You got life. God's given you
life. Now act like it. Wake up. When we're asleep, we
do not know what's going on around us. And what's more, we don't
care because we're asleep. But we're asleep spiritually.
Christ is there. We don't know. We're missing
him, and we don't care. Paul said, wake up. Wake up.
When we're asleep, we're defenseless. Remember the Lord's parable about
the tares. When did the enemy come in and
sow the tares in that field of wheat? When the men slept. Paul said, now wake up so the
enemy can't harm us. And I want us to look at these
verses in terms of waking up spiritually or physically and
compare them to the spiritual. First of all, wake up because
it's time to wake up. Verse 12 says the night is far
spent. The day is at hand. It's time
to wake up out of sleep. When Jan and I were in college,
she would come home sometimes on the weekend. She'd stay with
her grandmother. She's going to school. She's working. We'd
get, pull into her, your grandmother's house just late, you know. Oh,
she's so I just need some sleep, but I crack it on. Can he be
in there waking her up? So it's time to get up. We're
burning daylight. It's daylight. Oh, I just want to sleep. Brethren, the night's over. The
day's begun. It's time to wake up. Look at
1 Thessalonians chapter 5. It's time to wake up because
God's children are not children of the night, the children of
the day. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 4. But ye, brethren, are not in
darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. For
you're all children of the light and children of the day. We're
not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
to others, but let's watch and be sober. For they that sleep,
sleep of the night, and they that drunken are drunken in the
night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on
the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope
of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with him. It's time to wake up because
it's daytime. Paul says, and you know the time,
and you know the time. What time is it? This is the
gospel day. This is the day the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ is being preached. Now wake up so you
don't miss it. This is the day of salvation.
Wake up so you don't miss it. Wake up so you don't miss being
fed through the preaching of the gospel. We live in a day
a whole lot better than David's day or Moses' day. We live in
a day where the scriptures are complete. We have the complete
revelation of God concerning salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Brethren, don't waste time. It's time to wake up. This is
the day that God's given us, the day of His complete revelation
of salvation. Then wake up. Because our salvation
is nearer than when we first believed. Far too often, we forget this
fact. It's right there. Now wake up
and be ready. I'm not a morning person by any
stretch of the imagination, but there's a couple of days out
of the year I wake up like that. One of them is the day we're
getting ready to leave on vacation. I wake up before the alarm goes
off. You know why? It's time to wake up. I don't
want to miss it. I don't want to miss. I don't
want to get there late. I don't want to miss a second of it. It's time to
wake up. We're on the brink of vacation.
How much more spiritually do we wake up on the brink of eternity,
the brink of something so glorious we can't imagine it right now?
Second, it's time to wake up and get dressed. The night is,
verse 12, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore
cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of
light. Now the night of darkness, of
unbelief and ignorance and sin and rebellion is over. It's time
of spiritual stupor. It's over. It's time to wake
up and take off your nightclothes. You know, Paul says cast off
the works of darkness. He means throw them away. Just
aggressively throw them away. Those works that are done in
the darkness of unbelief, those works that were done in the just
going through the motion we're going through in that spiritual
stupor. Aggressively throw them away because you don't be seen
wearing those things in light of day. This year, our family
celebrated Christmas together in Lexington, Savannah. hosted Christmas for us all at
her house. She told us, all of us are to
arrive in our pajamas. She wanted to recreate the scene,
how it was when she's a little girl, wake up in our house, we
all come down in our pajamas and drink hot chocolate and open
presents. She wanted to recreate that.
So, you know, we did. Doug and I kind of grumbled about
it, but we did it. And as we were there and they
were fixing dinner, they found out they needed something from
the store. And I said, well, I'll go get it, but I'm changing
clothes first. I'm not going out in public like
this. That's a policy here. Take those nightclothes off.
You don't want to appear out in public like that in the light
of day. But don't take them off and be naked now. Take off those
nightclothes. Take off those pajamas and get
dressed. Put on the armor of light. That's
the whole armor of God. Having your loins girt with the
truth of God. Putting on the breastplate of
righteousness. Put on your feet the gospel of peace. Take to
yourself the shield of salvation. Put on your head the helmet of
salvation. The shield of faith. The helmet
of salvation. And take in your hand the sword of the word of
God. Take off your night clothes.
Get rid of those works. In verse 14 it says, put ye on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on Christ. How is it that
we put on Christ? Well, I can't tell you exactly
how it is that you put on Christ. I could teach a little boy how
to put on a shirt and how to button it. But I can't tell you
how to put on Christ. I think the Apostle Paul gave
us a pretty good clue Let this mind be in you, which is also
in Christ Jesus. I can't tell you what it looks
like, but I know what it looks like when somebody puts it on,
puts Christ on. We wear clothes to make ourselves
more attractive. That's where the phrase Sunday
best came from. We put on our best to go to the
house of the Lord, to look our best. That's why we wear clothes.
Well, that's why we put on Christ, because he's our beauty. Put
him on, put that attitude of Christ on, put him on. We also
wear clothes to keep us warm. Everybody picked out their warm
clothes to wear today, didn't you? Everybody's layering and
putting on their little... That's why we put on Christ. Because
He's the warmth of our life. And we wear clothes to protect
us, to protect our feet from, you know, getting cut, or wear
coats to protect us from the cold or the rain. We'll put on
Christ. Christ, our righteousness, protects
us from every danger, from everything we ever face. Wake up! Take off those nightclothes and
get dressed. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And third, wake up and get busy. Verse 13. Let us walk honestly
as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering
and wantonness, not in strife and envy. Wake up because there's
things we're supposed to be doing and we're burning daylight. You
remember Paul started this section of his letter. He finished that
that great doctrinal teaching of his letter in chapter 11.
And he began this section in chapter 12, where he told us,
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service. We're to present our
bodies a living sacrifice. And here's how we do that. By
giving our bodies, giving our time, our abilities, our talents,
giving those things to serving the people of God. That's just
our reasonable service. Brethren, this is no time for
indifference. Our Lord has told us, present
your bodies a living sacrifice. Well, this is no time to be indifferent
about it, is it? Let's wake up and do what's supposed
to be done. Wake up and get walking, walking
honestly through this life. Well, how do I do that? Well,
it's more than being honest in your business dealings, you know,
not not telling a lie, not stealing, although certainly that's included.
But to walk honestly for the believer, to walk honestly in
this life is to go through our daily life honestly. As a sinner needing Christ, as
a sinner needing God's grace, knowing I'm never able to stand
on my own, but I go through this life needing him. I go through
my daily life in this world as a pilgrim, knowing this world's
not my home. I'm not of this world. I'm not
trying to get things of this world. I'm trying to get through
it so I can go home and be with my heavenly father. To walk honestly
is to live depending upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is
to not walk like this world. You know, the religious way of
this world is self-righteousness. Well, that's just completely
dishonest. I mean, anybody that preaches
the law as a way for you to earn salvation, as a way for you to
improve yourself, is just being completely dishonest. We can't
keep it. So don't walk like that. Walk
depending upon Christ. And Paul does give us a few examples
here of our earthly walk to avoid rioting. Now, that's excessive
partying. There's nothing wrong with having
a party, but this is excessive. parties, excessive pleasures
of the flesh, like all those horrible parties the Romans were
very famous for, that these people would be very familiar with.
Avoid drunkenness, and not just drunk on alcohol, that's not
very wise, but it's also to be addicted to the sinful pleasures
of this life, of this flesh. Don't be addicted to this world
because you're passing through it. Chambering and wantonness,
those things are sexual We're not to have our bodies participate
in that. We're to present our bodies a
living sacrifice to the Lord. And then strife and envy. That's
just fighting over the things of this life, being jealous of
things of this world that other people have. And I don't want
to be left out, so I'm jealous about fighting over it, just
doing everything I can do to get it. Don't walk like that,
because we don't want to be just burned down with all the things
of this life. We want to be seeking the Lord, following Him, going
to Him. So don't walk like the world. Don't conduct yourself
like that. But walk as a child of God. Walk following Christ
and imitating Christ. That's how you put on Christ.
And you'll walk honestly in this world. It's time to wake up. High time. Sun's up. Time to
get dressed. Put off those nightclothes and
get dressed. Get dressed like you should be when you appear
out in public. And get busy. Don't just lay around like a
slug all day. Get busy. There's something to
be done. And then fourth, wake up so you can make provision
for yourself. Solomon said, don't be like that
slugger. Don't be like that. Be like that ant that goes out
all the time working to prepare for the winter. Don't just lie
in bed all day and sit around all day. Expect somebody else
to provide for you. Wake up and get busy. Make provision
for yourself. Verse 14. But put ye on the Lord
Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the
lust thereof. Now, Paul says, wake up and get
busy. Make provision for yourself.
This is not what he means, but I reckon it should be said. You
young people, listen to me. When you get older, you get out
on your own, or you get ready to get out on your own, you go
out and work. I mean, you find a job and you
work at it. Don't expect somebody else to
give it to you. You go out and you work at it. And especially
you young men, now listen to me, you young men. You want me
to tell you how a daddy looks at a boy who's dating his daughter?
Maybe thinking about marrying her. You want me to tell you
one of the first things he thinks of? This fella got a work ethic? I mean, the very first thing
I thought of is, does this man, you know, does he love Christ?
Would he go to church with her? But I'm telling you, the very
second thing I thought of is this. Is he going to go to work? He can get up and go to work
every day. Does he need my daughter to act
like his mama and kick him out of bed every day and compel him
to go to work every day? If that's so, no, you're not
going to have my blessing. I'm just telling you that's the
way daddies think. So you get up and you go to work. That's
not what that's saying, but there's some good advice for you. Paul
says don't make provision for the flesh. Now he's talking here
about spiritual things. Don't make provision for the
sinful flesh. He's not saying don't sin. I
mean, we shouldn't do that. That should be our goal every
every day, every minute. But let's be honest. We're walking
honestly, right? We still see that's all we do.
But don't make plans for how can I sin more? How can I make
provision to satisfy all the sinful lusts of my flesh? Don't
do that. Don't know we're still seeing,
but don't ever excuse it. Always fight against it. And
you fight against it. by not making provision for the
flesh, but making provision for the spirit. You want me to tell
you how to make provision for the spirit? Be diligent about
being in the worship service. This is not something that you
can, you know, take or leave. It's not something that you just
do better to do. You never have anything better
to do. Be diligent about being in the worship service. Give
diligence to seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Those other things will be added to you. Just seek things. First, make this very important
to you, that you seek things that contribute to your spiritual
well-being, that you're not contributing to the sinful desires of the
flesh. Seek the welfare of your soul by seeking Christ. Seek Christ and those spiritual
things more than the things of this life. Now, I just told you,
you've got to go out and get a job. You've got to work. You've got
to provide for yourself. But seek Christ first. Make that
more important. Because I'm telling you, no matter
how big of a job you get, no matter how much money you get,
no matter how many things in this life that you accumulate,
you're going to be shocked how quickly it's over. You're going
to be shocked just how much on the precipice of eternity we've
been. So wake up. Wake up. Seek Him. Seek Christ. to follow Him and
be with Him, and it'll go well with your soul. It'll go well
with your soul. Now, I want to wish, I hate that
we've had to cancel our service for this evening. Let me all,
let me wish all of you a happy New Year. In this matter of getting
busy, waking up, getting busy, walking, making provision for
the flesh, I want to tell you how much I look forward to another
year that God's given us to serve Him together. We don't know what
this new year is going to bring to us. But I've been through
enough new years. I've sung Old Lang Syne often
enough to know this. You know what this new year is
going to bring us? Pretty much just exactly what the last one
brought us. It's going to bring us some bad news. There's going
to be days we cry together. That's how we present our bodies
of living sacrifice. There's going to be days we cry
together. We'll be together. We'll be on the mountaintop,
just so thrilled with God's blessing to us. Oh, how God's blessed
us this year. He's called out His sheep. He's
fed them. He's just encouraged them and
caused them to grow. There'll be days we have sorrows
and days we have joy. And this is my prayer, that the
Lord be pleased to bless us in this coming year like He has
the past one. That He'll give us those days of joy and those
days of sorrow, that He'll comfort our hearts with His presence
and enable us to be helpful to one another. Happy New Year. That's my New Year's resolution
to you all. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you for this gracious
admonition to your people to wake up, serve the Lord, follow
him, seek him. How gracious you are to your
children, not to threaten us and beat us into waking up, but
to graciously Call us to wake up because of all of your mercy
and grace to us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, how we thank
you for this complete salvation, both past, present, and future
found in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, give us the wisdom and
the grace to live honestly in this life, live honestly depending
upon Christ and looking to him. Because we're on the very threshold
of eternity where we'll see him face to face. And until that
time, how we pray that you keep us faithful to endure to the
end. First, in his precious name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for the glory of his name, we pray.