If you have your Bibles, please
turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 13. The book of Romans, chapter 13. I'd
like to read beginning with verse 11 and read down through verse
14. Verse 11 through verse 14. of Romans chapter 13. 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. 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. Let us walk honestly as in the
day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering, lewdness and
wantonness, not in strife and envy, but put you on the Lord
Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the
lust thereof. Those of you that have been here
the last two Sundays remember that I've been preaching to believers
and this morning I feel led to do so again and I trust that
the Lord is in it and you pray for me that I might be able to
faithfully discharge the obligation that Our Lord has placed upon
my shoulders. I wanted us to look, beginning
with verse 11 this morning, where the Apostle Paul says, and that
knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of
sleep. I think in some measure we're
all ignorant of what the time is that we're living. Oh Lord,
teach us to number our days. that we might apply our hearts
unto wisdom? Are we aware of the fact that
our lives are brief? Do we know that we're living
in a time that is wherein we're dreadfully needed in this world
to shine the light of the gospel? Do we know what time it really
is on God's clock? Do we know what time it is? Are
we aware of it? May the Lord make us aware of
the time, and I think knowing the time that now it is high
time to wake out of sleep. Now this sleep here spoken of
by Paul, I believe is a shameful indifference to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is a spiritual callousness
into which true believers sometimes fall. Yes, men and women who
truly love and know the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, do sometimes,
by their own weakness, sinful neglect of Him, become indifferent
to Him. I believe in some measure that
we're somewhat of the family of Jonah. If you recall Jonah,
in the first chapter of Jonah, he would not obey the Lord, he
would walk contrary to God. And he would walk in a way that
was displeasing to God. And so you recall that Jonah
got on a ship that was going to Tarshish. And the Bible says
that Jonah not only got on this ship going down to Tarshish to
get away from the Lord and the responsibility and the obligation
that God had called him to, but he also went to sleep on that
boat. And the Lord sent a great storm.
And you recall how that the sailors were very excited, and they began
to try to discover what was the reason. But old Jonah was in
the ship, and he was asleep in the ship, and so they came to
him and said, Wake up! Wake up, old sleeper! Wake up! It's time to wake up and call
upon the name of your God. And I think there are many of
the living family of God that belongs to the family of Jonah.
I think that many, many of us have grown weary in well-doing.
And I think many of us have found us a place, a comfortable place,
and we've attempted to get away somewhat from any obligation
that the Lord might have placed upon us and we're somewhat in
a rebellious attitude and somewhat in a very callous attitude about
the things of God. And I believe this morning that
the Lord would have me to speak to you about this. It's high
time that we wake out of sleep. Oh Jonah, wake up and call upon
your God. Are you asleep this morning?
Have you, like the church in Ephesus, have you lost your first
love, your sweetheart love for the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you
forgotten the joy of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, of
trusting in the Lord? Has your grasp of the Savior
lost the strength of its freshness? I say, has your grasp of the
Lord Jesus Christ lost the strength of its freshness. Now your doctrine
may be very precise, though you may be asleep this morning. Your
doctrine may be correct. You may believe rightly what
you do believe. And you might have grown a great
measure in the faith of the gospel. But I wonder this morning, how
long have you believed the gospel? How long have you believed it?
Well my friend, can you honestly say this morning, I've thought
about this a great deal. I've believed the gospel for
over 53 years. And I asked myself this morning,
really and truthfully, have you grown, can you honestly say that
you have grown in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you grown? Have you made
any progress in the faith of the gospel? Now, beloved, we
need to honestly face that question. because the time is slipping
away. Will my tomorrows be just like
my yesterdays? Or am I going to make progress
in the faith of the gospel knowing that my time is short? Knowing
that the day is at hand, will I make any more progress tomorrow
and in the weeks to come if God grants me the time? And you might
also add this to your question, how much time do I have? How
many days do I have left? Now, if you do not get a Great
Falls Tribune, maybe you should. And maybe, I'm not here to sell
papers, but maybe you ought to get the Great Falls Tribune and
that you ought to look at the obituary column and read it for
the next 30 days. And then you ask yourself the
question, how much time, Lord, do I have left? Now I know there's
no need to ask you how much time you have left because I know
you can't answer that. But you need to be asking the
Lord, Lord how much more time do I have left? Am I going to
continue on as I am? Or is this thing, am I going
to make progress in the faith of the gospel? Am I going to
move on in the faith? in the stream, and am I going
to get involved in that which I ought to be involved in as
the Lord's people? Now, beloved, you may be very
sound in your doctrine, but you may be very much asleep also
at the same time. Now, if you're born of God, you
have seen your sin, but has the fresh conviction of personal
depravity and sin you once felt so deeply now become no more
than a doctrine that you acknowledge? Now, you know, I've thought about
this some, and you know, early in our Christian experience,
God was pleased to make known to us the doctrine of total depravity. Now, beloved, when I discovered
the doctrine of total depravity, it opened my eyes to many, many
spiritual truths. But I do not want to come to
the place where I lose the fresh conviction of what personal depravity
is all about. Because the more I believe the
doctrine, the more I understand the doctrine, the more it causes
me to love Christ. The more it causes me to seek
Him and to be identified with Him and want to know Him as Paul
said, oh that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection. I want to know Him because He's
the one that delivers me from my depravity. I don't want it
just to be a doctrine that I acknowledge. I want it to drive me to serve
the Lord and to seek the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you know the
righteousness of God in Christ, but has the righteousness of
Christ now become no more than a point of doctrine which you
like to debate with other people? Now beloved, this is a precious
doctrine. the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And a church needs to be sound
in that doctrine. There needs to be sound preaching
on the doctrine of imputed righteousness. But beloved, when I first discovered
that righteousness was believed unto rather than worked for,
it was a blessed, blessed doctrine to my heart. And it became a
garment of salvation that I wrapped around my poor naked soul. And I don't want that doctrine
just to become something that I debate about or that I just,
you know, somehow or other relax and enjoy from the standpoint
of knowing it's a biblical fact. I want to remember how it was
like to be cold out in the ways of sin. I want to remember what
it was like, my friend, to be naked before the bar of God and
the eye of God having no covering for my sin. I want to remember
how it was to know that I had to face a thrice holy God and
that I was in my sin and I was exposed to the eye of the Almighty. And now I want to know, I want
to be warm toward God and I want to be warmed in the robe of righteousness. Now you've seen God's judgment
of sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. You in, by the Spirit's help
and enablement and the tutoring of the Spirit, you've seen the
Lord Jesus Christ nailed to the old rugged cross. You saw God
crossing His tees and dotting His eyes, hanging His Son upon
the cross, exacting from Him full payment for your sin and
your indebtedness unto Him. But my friend, have we seen that?
Have we seen it clearly? I think we have. Over and over
again we've discussed how that God in Christ has satisfied his
own law on our behalf, and how that God in Christ has provided
what we have had demanded of us. But how joyfully we once
bathed our filthy soul in Emmanuel's precious blood. When we once
knew that we were guilty sinners, we know we need to be cleansed. And how joyful our hearts were
when we read in the scriptures that the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. How joyful we became
when we knew that Emmanuel's precious blood, that it had been
shed in order that an atonement might be made, that we might
be reconciled to God. Well, the atonement of Christ
His finished work of redemption, His precious blood, were once
more than doctrinal facts to this sinner. They were once more
than just doctrinal, scriptural facts. They were the lifeblood
of my very soul. They were that which warmed my
heart. They were that which thawed out
my heart. But where do we stand now? They
were our soul's hope, our soul's joy, and our... Are these things just all doctrines? Well, doctrines are like roses
on a bush. On the bush, they remain beautiful,
sweet to the smell, and... as they remain on the stem. But we're not content to leave
them, there are... them in order that will suit
us. We set them on a shelf in our house and we admire them,
but sometime they stink. And so too the doctrines of Christ
are beautiful, they're sweet, they're blooming with life in
the Lord Jesus Christ, but only as they're seen in Him, understand
me, Are they precious and are they
soul reviving and are they moving to the heart of the believer,
to move the believer, to constrain the believer to be what he ought
to be in this world? It is Christ we love, not his
doctrine. Christ is life, not his doctrine. Where did you find life? Did
you not find it in a person? Did you not find it in the redeemer?
it is Christ to whom we must look, it is Christ who is our
life, it is Christ who is beautiful, and we could say his doctrine
is beautiful, but it's Christ who is beautiful to us. Now I
do not suggest that we become indifferent to the doctrine of
Christ, not for a minute. We're not to become indifferent
to the holy facts of the gospel and to the teachings of the scriptures
in regards to how God has saved us as sinners. I'm not talking
about us becoming indifferent to that, but I am talking about
the things which our God has done for us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. moving our hearts to where that
we have the anointing of God in these matters and aware that
we would be able to serve the Lord with holy boldness and confidence
and be able to wake up out of our sleep for naturally we will
fall into sleep and I think some of us are asleep today. Now he
goes on to say for now is our salvation nearer than we believe. Now We are foolish if we become
so enarmored with the doctrines of Christ and become indifferent
to Him. Remember that. Never disconnect
His doctrine from His person. Love Him. Fellowship with Him. Worship Him. Pray to Him. Honor Him. And the doctrines
will take care of themselves. to sleep in a bed of doctrinal
indifference is just as bad as sleeping in a bed of worldly
care, it is high time that we awake out of our sleep. Now the sleep Paul is describing
here is carnal security. It's a sort of spiritual drowsiness
which sometimes overtakes the saints of God in this world. When we fall into this horrible
sleep, we become satisfied with the mere outward duties of religion,
just as long as we go to church. Well, we went to church, didn't
we? Didn't we go to church? Well, brother, it seems like
to me you're slipping a little bit. Well, I'm still doing everything
I was doing before. I'm still doing everything that
I used to do. Well, you see, we become satisfied
with the mere outward duties of religion, as long as we pray
a little bit, don't have to pray too much, you know, we wouldn't
want to spend a whole lot of time in prayer. No, we wouldn't
want to stir ourselves up really to pray. We wouldn't want to
get fervent about prayer or nothing like that, but we'll go through
the motions. Well, I think that most of us
go through the motions. That's probably what we do. We
go through the motions. We're satisfied If we read one
scripture or two a day, if we read just a little bit out of
some devotional book, we're satisfied with that. That seems to satisfy
our hearts. But this is a horrible sleep
that we've fallen into when we've lost the anointing of the Spirit
of God upon our lives and when we're not fresh in the things
of God and attempting to walk with God and pray, Lord, open
our eyes to what's around us. heal us from this dreadful sleep
that we've fallen into. Our hearts have a lukewarm indifference
to the cause of Christ, a lukewarm indifference to the gospel of
His grace, and the church of His redeemed, and the interest
of His glory. We're indifferent to these things.
We have only slight concerns about our sins, about our souls,
and eternity. Now the Bible teaches us in Hebrews
that we're to lay aside the sins that doth so easily beset us
and to run the race that the Lord has set us on and run it
with patience, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. And so, beloved, are we just
slightly concerned about our sins? It's high time that we
awake, that we awake out of sleep and become concerned about our
sins, our souls, and our eternity. And we're willing to remain in
our beds of ease in this wretched condition. Sometimes we bring
upon ourselves it arises from the body of sin and death. We
need to be aware of that. It comes upon us because we choose
evil instead of good, darkness instead of light, flesh instead
of spirit. You know when the Disciples of
our Lord followed Him to Gethsemane. That you remember that they couldn't
watch with Him for one hour. They fell asleep. They fell asleep. God forbid that you and I should
be asleep seeing that our Lord Jesus Christ was in dead earnest
about saving our souls. and seeing that he was in dead
earnest about representing us before the Father, seeing that
he was in dead earnest about providing us a righteousness
which God would accept on our behalf, God forbid that we should
slip into this sleepiness and into this awful condition, this
horrible condition that Paul's talking about here. And that
we need to be reminded, beloved, that the time is short. We'll
talk a little bit more about that in a moment, the time is
short and the day is at hand, the day of our death is at hand.
And you can look at some of us and you can tell that the day
is at hand, the day is at hand. Paul said, it's high time to
awake out of sleep, knowing the time, the night is forespent,
the day is at hand. The night is forespent, the night
of this world, the night of the darkness of this world, the night
of sin is forespent. And the day when you and I individually
are going to depart this life is at hand. It's coming. And
none of us know the day or the hour. There is no discharge from
this war. We're going to die. And the time
is coming. And we need to be stirred up
to wake up out of our sleep this morning and obey these injunctions
of the Word of God. I say it comes upon us because
we choose evil instead of good. The Bible said, the Scripture
says that if we resist the devil, he'll flee from us. The Bible
says if we draw near to him, he will draw near to us. Somebody said, it just don't
seem like I can get near the Lord. If you're a believer, shame
on you. My friend, you've got to work
at it. Draw near to God and He will draw nigh to you. He will. That's a promise of the Word
of God. Thus saith the Lord. Draw nigh to me and I'll draw
nigh to you. You can get the fellowship of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I stand at the door
and knock. If any man will open the door.
And he's talking to believers there. He said, I'll come in
and I'll fellowship with him. I'll commune with him. We'll
have a talk. And I'll encourage you, and I
just wonder if any of you ever opened the door to the Lord Jesus
Christ and He came in and had a little talk and a little fellowship
with you. My friend, there's a great need
for this. We need to choose good, we need
to choose as a redeemed person, as somebody in the Lord, as somebody
who's tasted that the Lord is good, as somebody who's had the
divine nature implanted in them, we need to seek the Lord and
we need to cry out to Him instead of saying, well, I've got just
enough time to read the newspaper, I'll just read the newspaper.
Well, are you interested in the things of darkness more than
light? The things of the flesh more than the spirit? No wonder
you're in the condition you're in. You're in a desperate condition,
a horrible condition. It arises from an undue care
for this world. We're too much concerned about
the world and too much concerned about our getting along in the
world. And we have an aversion, as we've
been talking about, to private worship. We just do. We have
an aversion to it. And then sometimes we even neglect
public worship. Have I described you this morning
in any way, shape, or form? It is high time to awake out
of sleep. High time. It's high time. That's an expression, and I sought
to find the meaning of that word high, and the best I can come
up with is that it's right now, right now, in the apostles' estimate,
it's right now time for you to wake up. It's time. It's time. The day has come for you to wake
up. And you're a child of God on your way to eternal glory.
And you need to be aware of the fact that you're very soon to
enter into heaven. And so therefore, you need to
wake up. It's high time that you woke
up. So then, have I described any
of your conditions this morning? Listen to me. I think it's the
most horrible inexcusable evil to be found in a believer. I say it's an inexcusable evil
if it be found in a believer. If there is one thing that might
pierce the heart of our beloved Redeemer with unutterable grief,
it is not the iniquity of the world or even the heresies of
false religion, but the base indifference of his professed
church. the bride he has chosen, redeemed
and saved by his own blood and free grace. It's their indifference. And so indifference to Christ,
I think, is the first step of apostasy from Christ. May God
save us from this indifference. It is time that we wake up. Now
to wake out of sleep is to see that spiritual things are indeed
realities. that spiritual things are indeed
realities. When we're half asleep, we see
nothing clearly. My friend, let me say that the
enemy has been clearly defined, he's been clearly revealed. We
know that the enemy is the world, the flesh, and the devil. We
do not, many, many times we cannot, we're in it just like we're dreaming. We hardly know the difference
between a dream and reality. Sleeping saints are unaffected
by spiritual realities. Is that a true statement? If
you're asleep, you're just not affected by spiritual realities. All things here in this world
have been temporary and they're perishing. They're perishing. Brother Larry in his prayer downstairs
this morning was talking about just look around. And there's
decay. Everything is dying. Everything
is going the way of all material things. Everything is just like
the old song says, that decay and all around I see. And it
is. That's the way of this world.
It's temporary and it's perishing. The riches and pleasure of this
world are deceiving. A man says, well, I'll just follow
the world. I'll seek the world. Demas loved this present world.
Demas was a forsaker of the Apostle Paul, forsaker of the Lord because
he loved this present world. And the riches and the pleasures
of this world are deceiving. The Bible says lay aside every
weight and the sin that does so beset us. Lay it aside. Sin is deceiving. Sin is deadly. Sin is a deadly thing. Christ
alone can say. The love of God in Christ is
infinite, eternal, and sure. The love of God in the Lord Jesus
is infinite, eternal, and sure. Do you understand that? This is an eternal thing. This
is a reality. The love of God in Christ. Compare
that with the world and the deceitfulness of sin and the things of this
world. The love of God in Christ is
infinite, eternal, And sure, in comparison with eternity,
the things of time are insignificant. Now you folks that profess to
know the Lord, you ought to write that down. In comparison with
eternity, the things of time are insignificant. And so when
you begin to deal with the things of time, and you begin to realize
that they're not the reality, they're not the real thing, then
it will help you I believe, to stir yourself up. It's time to
wait, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."
I think the salvation that Paul is talking about here is the
salvation that will come to us at our death. I think there's
three aspects of salvation that's taught in the scriptures. And
the first one of them is that we receive salvation or deliverance
from the Lord when we're born again, when the Holy Spirit of
God regenerates our hearts. And then we experience the salvation
of God as we live out our days in this world. The Lord does
deliver us day by day from the power of sin in this world. And then there's coming that
day when we're going to die. And there's going to be a reuniting
of our bodies with our souls in the day of the resurrection.
This is all involved in God's eternal plan of salvation. And I think that what he's talking
about now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. Our time
of death, our time of going to be with the Lord, our time of
entering into eternal glory, that that time is nearer now. We believe 53 years ago. Now,
my friend, the time has run out. The sand has run through the
hourglass. Just a few more grains in it.
The time of our salvation is near and it's time to wake out
of our sleep. It's time to be faithful to God
if we're ever going to be faithful to God. It's time to pray if
we're ever going to pray. It's time for us to put on the
Lord Jesus Christ and to be what we ought to be in this world.
So the time of our salvation is nearer than when we believe. Now, beloved, we're living at
the edge of eternity. Does this not in some way or
another speak to your heart? We're living on the edge of eternity. We're in the vestibule of death.
And our salvation, our complete salvation, is very near at hand. You say, well, I wondered a few
times if it was ever coming. My friend, it's coming. It's
coming. It's right around the corner.
Yes, we're going to be saved at last. No question. The top
stone shall be laid in its place with shouting grace, grace unto
it. It's going to happen. As sure
as we're breathing today, it's going to happen. As sure as God
said it, it's going to happen. There's coming a day when our
salvation will come. It will come indeed. Shall we
sleep? Well, Shall we sleep with heaven
so near at hand? Shall we just go on in our drowsiness,
be indifferent to the things of God? Shall we go on and be
indifferent about the slackness in our hearts and lives and about
the carelessness? Shall we go on and sleep with
heaven so near at hand? Shall we sleep when we're at
the door of our Father's house, about to enter into the joy of
the Lord? Shall we sleep We're now upon
the threshold of everlasting glory. How, pray tell me, can
we continue to sleep? We must wake up to our responsibilities,
our obligations, and be faithful to the Lord. I remember Bunyan
said that Ignorance, he found a door, he found an entrance
to hell at the gate of heaven. Old Ignorance found a gate, it
is said, an entrance to hell at the gate of heaven. Now you
and I need to be aware of the fact that, brother, sister, and
I know that some of you got a PhD degree. You're past having doubts. That's
what that is, past having doubts. Fellow with a PhD, past having
doubts. And you may have that, but I'm
here to tell you this morning that if you're living a careless
life, and if you're indifferent to Christ, the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, And if you're not seeking daily his will, and
if you're not seeking to be conformed to his image, if you're not seeking
to live as you ought to live in this world, then my friend,
I would be very, very careful about it. Because I believe that
our going to be with the Lord, Mr. Haldane said this, the near
prospect of leaving this world and entering into a state of
glory ought to have a great effect upon Christians. in making them
think less of this world, more of that which they're about to
become inhabitants. And I believe that is a true
statement of the truth, is that we ought to be more aware now,
beings that we're very near entering into glory. This ought to challenge
our hearts anew. Now in verse 12 it said, the
night is far spent and the day is at hand. Do you know what
time it is? Well, beloved, it is daytime.
The long night of darkness is over, and the gospel day is here,
and this is the day that the Lord's people are receiving salvation
and giving the message of salvation out to the world. The Son of
Righteousness has arisen with healing in His wings, and this
is not a time for the people of God to sleep. This is that
time when the preacher takes up the obligation and the responsibility
of preaching the Word and teaching the Word of God, and the members
of the Church are bearing their witness and testimony to the
world, we being God's spokesmen in this world. This is not a
time, as we said, for sleep, but a time for business and a
time for work. Knowing the time, that now it
is high time to wake out of sleep, for now is our salvation dearer
than when we believed. The night is far spent, That
is, the long night of earthly care and trouble, the day is
at hand. The day of our death, the day
of complete salvation and everlasting glory is at hand. Let us therefore
cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of
light. You know what he said? Let us
therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on
the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the
day. not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
but in strife, and not in strife and envy. I would like for you
to turn with me to Ephesians chapter 5. I'd like to share
here a couple passages of scripture with you that will go along with
these verses here. Ephesians chapter 5, I want to
begin here with verse 14. Last week we read these verses
8 through 13, but now today he said, Wherefore he saith, he
talked about the light and how that it made manifest sin. And then he says in verse 14,
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from
the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. This is talking to
a believer. He's talking to these people
that have fallen into this carelessness, this slackness, and into this
state of indifference. Awake, those of you that sleep,
and arise from the dead. It appears that you're one of
the dead. It appears that you're one of those that have not ever
been revived or regenerated out of death. You live just like
the lost world. And so he said, arise from the
dead. Christ shall give you light. So you can have on this armor
of light. This light is the light with
which we attacked our enemies in the world. It's a light that
protects us. It's the light of Christ. See
then, he says in verse 15, that you walk circumspectly, not as
fools, not as fools would walk, but as wise, redeeming the time
because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise,
but in understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not
drunk with wine wherein is excess, But be filled with the Spirit,
speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving
thanks always for all things unto God the Father, in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you will, turn back to
1 Corinthians chapter 10, and I want to show you a couple of
verses here. I'm talking about how that we need to put on the
armor of light, and we need to cast off the works of darkness. Cast them off. And then here
in verse 7, well let me skip back up here to verse 5. Paul
has been talking about the children of Israel going through the wilderness,
and he said in verse 4, they did all drink the same spiritual
drink. They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and
that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was
not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust
after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be you idolaters,
as were some of them, as it is written, as people sat down to
eat and drink and rose up to play. Verse 8, neither let us
commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one
day. Three and twenty thousand, twenty-three
thousand of them fell in one day. Neither let us tempt Christ,
as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur you, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened
unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him
that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. Now, brother
or sister, as you read these verses and look at these verses,
You see the warnings and the admonitions of the scriptures
about how they were to cast off the works of darkness, were not
to be involved in these sins. Now he says that you let us walk
honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not
in chambering and wantonness. Walk honestly. Walk like you
ought to walk. as you would in the day. Don't
walk as a man would at night. We told you last week that men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
Well, he says here that we're to walk honestly as in the day,
properly. We're to walk like, we're not
to get out and to live as people live that live in the darkness
and sin openly in the darkness, we're to walk honestly as in
the day, not in rioting and partying and drunkenness, druggies, we're
not to be druggies and we're not to be drunk on wine, we're
in excess, we're not to be intoxicated with intoxicating beverages,
we're to be different people than this. not in chambering
and wantonness, not in lewdness and wickedness and sin, not in
strife and envying, but we're to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, beloved, these are the admonitions that we have in the Word of God
in order that we might be able to properly and rightly represent
the Lord Jesus Christ in the world. Now, the ways of the world
This word revelry means carousing, wild partying, public display
of intemperance. Many profess Christ and continue
these practices. These two excesses are listed
together in Galatians 5.21, drunkenness and this intemperance. They were
told in Galatians 5.21, the people who practice these things will
not inherit the kingdom of God. Peter warns us, he said, I beg
you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which
war against the soul. That's 1 Peter 2 and verse 3.
For we spend enough time of our past lifetime in doing the will
of the Gentiles or the pagans when we walked in lewdness, lust,
drunkenness, revelry, drinking parties, abominable idolatries. That's 1 Peter 4 and verse 3. Cast it all off, all the works
of darkness. Now lewdness and lust are closely
related to reverently and drunkenness. Sad but true, religion is often
used as a road to debased behavior. While Moses was still on horb
with God, Israel made this calf we just read about in 1 Corinthians. And they rose up and they offered
a burnt sacrifice, a peace offering to the calf. And the people sat
down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Exodus 32 and 6. And then Paul tells us that there
was 23,000 of them that was struck down. And so this sin needs to
be laid aside. It needs to be cast off. is the
words of the apostle. Now he goes on to mention here
something else. He talks about not in strife
and envy. God's people are not to be envious. And the scripture says that wrath
kills a foolish man and envy slays a simple one. That's Job
5 and 2. And a sound heart is life to
the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones. We need to cast
these things off. Proverbs 14 and 30. But then
we come to this blessed truth that what we're to do after we
cast off these things and after we mortify the deeds of the body
that are mentioned here, that then we should put on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, my friend, you cannot put
Him on in practice until He's been put on in faith at the time
of salvation. And by the grace of God, He is
in us. And if we're going to have the
grace of His doctrine and grace enough to live Him out before
men, then we must have, by the grace of God, Him put on in our
life. Now, I told you last week that
we need people to live like Christ. What we need is believers to
put on the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we
need in this world. Not more Christianity. Christianity
is give the Lord's work and the cause of God a bad name. But
we need people to live out the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. Put Him on. You remember that our Lord said
to the Pharisees, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you're
hypocrites. Because they would travel land
and sea to win one, make him proselyte, and when he was won,
they made him twice as much the son of hell as he was before,
and as they were. And so, what we need is people
that truly know the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want to point
out something here that I think kind of brings this home a little
clearer. You remember in Acts chapter 4 the Jews laid hands
on Peter and John and put them in prison. And they talked with them and
observed and they marveled at these uneducated men and realized
that these men had been with Christ. Now there was something
about them, perhaps unconsciously, they had put on Christ. I don't
think these men, Peter and John, had necessarily had a service
and said, today we're going to put on Christ. I believe that
they were believers indeed, and so unconsciously they had put
him on. They had put him on. His message,
his love, his meekness and mercy flowed out of them. Flowed out
of them to the people around them. And when you've been with
the Lord Jesus, it will show. Not if you say so, but if you've
truly been with him. If you've truly been with Christ,
then your life will show it. Now then, there's another verse,
it's found in 2 Corinthians 2 and 15, where Paul tells the people
of God, he says, therefore be imitators of God as dear children,
and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself
for us, and offering a sacrifice to God for his sweet-smelling
aroma. And he said, be to God the fragrance
of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who
are perishing. The Lord's people are the sweet
savor of the Lord Jesus Christ among the people that they're
around. They smell of the Lord Jesus
Christ if everything is right with them. They smell of the
Lord Jesus. He's a sweet fragrance. And that's
what we need in this world. That is exactly what we need. We need people to live out the
character of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then another thing here he
said, and make no provisions for the flesh to fulfill its
lust. Now I believe that the best way
for me to explain that to you would be to read to you Colossians
3, 1 through 5. Colossians chapter 3, verses
1 through 5. And if you want to turn there,
there certainly wouldn't be anything wrong with that. But it says,
if you then be risen with Christ, now here we are, we're believers,
and we've had the new birth, and we're in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we've attempted to walk with Him, and maybe our lives have
become indifferent to some measure, maybe we feel that we're asleep
a little bit, and we need to be roused out of our sleepiness. He says, if you then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above. Seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
our God, on the right hand of God. That's our position before
God. We're in Christ at the right
hand of God. So seek those things. Make not
provision for the flesh. Do not live out your days just
providing for the mundane things of this world. Do not seek just
to so live that you'll be able to satisfy the lust of your flesh,
you'll be able to meet your desires and fulfill all of your desires
that you have after the flesh. You say, I've got certain goals,
preacher, and I want to meet those goals. I want to have the
things of this world, and I want my family and my flesh to be
satisfied with creature comforts. Well, the scripture says that
we're not to provide for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. So he says, set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth. Set your affection,
your love on things above. Don't be loving the world and
the things of the world. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. Now is that an admonition that
we could take seriously? Your affection, your love, let
it be on things above. Why? Because the time is short.
This world's going down at two. It's going down at rain. You're
soon to be with the Lord. So set your affection on things
above. For you're dead. You're dead
to the world. You're dead through the crucifixion
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You've died to the world and
your life is hid with Christ in God. God no longer looks upon
you and sees you. He sees His Son. And so if you
thus be in His Son, put Him on not only before God but before
the world. May Christ be seen. May Christ
be viewed in your life. And then he goes on to say, when
Christ who is our life shall appear, Then shall ye also appear
with him in glory. When he comes back, as he is
coming back, then we're going to appear with him in glory. But look at this fifth verse.
He says, Mortify therefore, put to death, kill off your members
which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil, concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Kill these
things off. Put them away. For these things
sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
This is why God is going to pour out his wrath upon the world
of the ungodly. And so he said, Christian, you
kill these things off in your flesh. Now there was a statement
made by a certain gentleman that I liked very much in regards
to this, that I think that I should share with you. And I would like
to do that at this time. If you're not wearing his garments,
he says, down here on earth. Now that means if you're not
wearing the Lord Jesus before men, if you're not wearing his
garment of salvation and wearing him, his character in the world,
don't deceive yourself and think that you'll dress quickly at
the gates of heaven. Don't deceive yourself and think
that you will dress quickly at the gates of heaven. That's quite
challenging, is it not, to the heart of the believer. My friend,
I think that we all are aware of the fact that we're going
to die, and you might say, that I've escaped the corruption
that's in the world through lust. Well, the scripture says if you
have, if you have escaped the corruption that's in the world
through lust, he said, for this very reason, Peter says in 2
Peter 1, 4-10, giving all diligence out of your faith, virtue to
virtue, knowledge to knowledge, self-control to self-control,
perseverance to persevere its godliness, to godliness, brotherly
kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are
yours and abound, you'll neither be barren nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things
is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was
cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even
more diligent to make your calling and election sure, For if you
do these things, you will never stumble. You will never stumble. I like that. I think that is
good. Now there's one other thought.
And you pardon me this morning. I don't feel well this morning.
I'm doing the best I can. But I wanted to share one other
thing with you here, if I can find it. And that is a connection
with our time here being very short. And it has to do with
the fact that, you know, death is going to find us where it finds us. And there
was a gentleman that put it in better words than that, but I
don't seem to be able to locate it right now in my notes here. But anyway,
he talked about how the finger of death would touch us in the
furrow that we were plowing at the time, and would seal us for
all eternity in the furrow that we were plowing at the time of
our death. And that is sobering to the heart. We need to recognize
that Time is short. The day is at
hand. Here it is. It's our death that's
being spoken of in Romans 13 11. The day when we pass out
of this world and our relationship to God is eternally sealed in
the fur we were plowing when our breath is stopped by the
finger of God. So you can take that and apply it as you would. I like to believe that God in
the eternal covenant of grace, I like to believe that he will
arouse us all out of our sleepiness and our indifference. And I believe
He will. I believe He will do that. But
I think it's through exhortation, just as we've read here this
morning and just as we've studied this morning, I believe that
God will use that to arouse us, to wake us up, make us think
about where we're at right now, how close we are to this thing
all being over. Mr. Spurgeon said sin is a sovereign
till sovereign grace dethrones it. I think that's a true statement.
And you know sin may be clasped so close to a believer that he
cannot see its face. You could be hugging sin to your
bosom, holding so tight to it You cannot see its face. Sin
is ugly. Sin is ugly. Have you ever heard
the saying, ugly is homemade sin? Well, my friend, if you
ever see sin's face, it's ugly. Terribly ugly. Maybe one of the
reasons why you can't see it. Say, I'm doing fine. I'm doing
just fine. Ain't nothing bothering me. Well,
maybe the reason is, is because you got it hugged so close to
you, you can't see its face. You can't see how ugly it is.
Where you're going, where you're headed, what you're doing with
your life, what you're allowing in your life, what you're letting
go on in your memories. And there needs to be an examination.
There needs to be a looking at these things. Alexander McLaren said, every
sin is a mistake as well as a wrong. And he says, and the epitaph
for the sinner is, Thou fool. Thou fool. Have you ever called
yourself a fool? David did. The psalmist David
did. And that's a fitting epitaph
for a sinner is, Thou fool. Thou fool. Thou fool. Well, there are only two kinds
of men in the world, the righteous who believe themselves sinners,
and the rest sinners who believe themselves righteous. You're
here this morning and you know yourself to be a sinner. I'm
inclined to believe you're a righteous man.