I would like for us this morning
to turn to the book of Romans. We're going to speak this morning
from several verses in Romans chapter 13. However, before we
read that passage, I have three statements that I would like
to make. Three statements that all of
God's children know. First of all, all who are saved
know that there is only one gospel, the gospel of Christ. All of
God's children know that. There's only one gospel, the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the apostle says in the first
chapter of this letter, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it
is the power of God unto salvation unto everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. The apostle
Paul, in two of his letters, did mention another gospel. But immediately he corrected
that and said, which is not another. So all of God's children recognize
and know there's only one gospel. Now, there are four narratives
which are called gospels, the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, but these are not four different gospels in the sense
of four messages, four glad tidings of how God saves sinners. but
four different narratives of the life of Christ. But every
believer, every child of God knows there's only one true gospel. It would be impossible to be
saved and not know that. Because if you know the gospel,
if a person knows the gospel, he knows there can only be one
gospel. There cannot be more than one
God, and there's only one way that God may be, that we may
be reconciled unto God. And that is through the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son. And a second truth that every
believer, every child of God knows is that this gospel is
received by faith. A person does not receive the
gospel by birth, that is by natural birth, because they're born into
a family of believers or because they're born into a certain denominational
church. The gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is received by faith, and faith alone, and every believer knows
that. And the reason we all know this
is because if it's not by faith, it's not by grace. Look with
me in Romans 4, in verse 16. It has to be by faith, or it
cannot be by grace. And if it's not by grace, then
it's by works. And then man has wherewithal
to boast, to brag on himself, to give the praise of his salvation
to his free will or to his works. No, it is by faith that it might
be by grace. Notice what Paul says here in
Romans four and verse 16, therefore it is a faith that it might be
by grace to the end, the promise might be sure to all the seed,
all the seed of Abraham, the chosen seed of Christ. The promise is sure of salvation. Everyone that God chose in that
eternal covenant and gave to his son is going to be redeemed
and brought home to glory. The third thing that every believer
knows is that we now have a new Lord and Master. Every child
of God knows that, that we have once saved, once God begins the
work of grace in our hearts, gives us life and faith in Jesus
Christ, now we have a new Lord and a new Master. You see that
in Romans chapter 6 where the Apostle asks the question in
verse 1 and 2. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? We're saved by grace. Well, let's just send more. Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Then let's just
send more that grace might more abound. Oh, no. When a person
has made a new creature in Christ Jesus, we recognize now we have
a new Lord and a new master. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Perish
the thought. The life of a saved person is
a new life. It is Christ in him, the hope
of glory. And the Spirit of Christ, that
is God the Holy Spirit, comes to live in every child at his
conversion. He's a new creation. He has a
new nature. But at the same time, that old
nature remains. In chapter 7 of Romans, the Apostle
Paul speaks about a law of sin, a principle that remained in
him, that when he would do good, evil was still present. And it's because of this old
nature. Here's my point. It is because
of this old nature. A new nature, yes, but an old
nature remaining that we have these exhortations that are written
to God's children. God's children, even though born
of the Spirit of God, and even though new creatures in Christ
Jesus, we need these exhortations that are given to us in the Word
of God. Exhortations to walk our life,
our conversation, our walk, to walk worthy of the calling, the
calling of God, were to walk worthy of the calling, walk worthy
of the Lord unto all pleasing, and to walk worthy of God, who
hath called you unto his kingdom and glory." Now, it is the Holy
Spirit who lives in us that enables us to hear these exhortations
and to heed them and to do them. In the letter of Romans, these
exhortations begin with chapter 12, and they continue on into
chapter 13. Now these are precepts or exhortations
which are written to those who are saved by the grace of God,
to God's children. They begin with that first verse
of Romans chapter 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, By the
mercies of God that you present your bodies, not just your physical
bodies, but your whole self, present yourself wholly, a living
sacrifice, wholly acceptable under God, which is your reasonable
service. It's your reasonable service
because you've been bought with a price, because you've been
distinguished by God's sovereign grace. because you've been called
out of darkness into his marvelous light. This is our reasonable
service, these exhortations that he's going to give us in these
next few verses. And I would encourage every one
of us here today, every child of God in this building this
morning, get along this week, get along with the Lord, just
you and the Lord and the word of God. And begin reading in
chapter 12, Romans chapter 12, and read on even to the end of
the letter. And what a blessing it will be
to you. They're precepts, exhortations
that are given to God's children. And what a blessing it will be.
But we're going to look at four of these exhortations this morning,
beginning in Romans chapter 13 with verse 8. And there's four
of these exhortations that I want to bring out. First of all, the
first exhortation is to love one another. Notice that in verse
8 through 10. Owe no man anything. but to love
one another. For he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit
adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt
not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there
be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this
saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling
of the law. Every child of God loves. It would be impossible to be
a child of God and not love, because Christ is in every child
of God, and he is love. He is love. And we love God,
the apostle John tells us, We love Him because He first loved
us. And the Holy Spirit has come
to live in every believer. And this is one of the fruits
of the Holy Spirit, as they are named in Galatians chapter 5.
Love, joy, peace. But the very first one named
is love. And you notice here, Paul makes
these two statements about love in this passage. He tells us
that love worketh no ill, works no ill to his neighbor. Love, just love one another,
that's a precept. No wonder the Apostle John said,
and his commandments are not grievous to us. That's not a
grievous commandment, is it? For me to be commanded to love
God's people, to love the children of God, to love one another?
His commandments are not grievous. No, we have love residing in
us that is Christ himself and love works no ill to his neighbor. And then Paul tells us that love
is the fulfilling of the law. Remember that religious leader,
lawyer, I believe he was, came to the Lord Jesus Christ and
said, which is a great commandment. And the Lord told him, the first
commandment is, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, all thy soul, and all thy being. And the second commandment
is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And
he said, on these two commands hangs all the law. These two
commands, to love God and to love our neighbor. Now you notice
Paul in this passage of scripture here, he only mentions those
commandments which are on what men call the second table. Remember
there was two tables, two tables on which God wrote the 10 commandments. But he only mentions these that
are on that second table. But people might say, well, how
then can he say that love is the fulfilling of the law? My
opinion is because in Paul's mind, as the word of God teaches
us, the law is one. There's only one law. And if
he speaks and writes about those commandments, which were on the
first table, it includes those. I mean, on the second table,
it includes those that are on the first table. Love is the
fulfilling of the law. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he
came into this world and he fulfilled the law. He's the end, he's the
goal of the law. He's the fulfilling end of the
law. He perfectly, and I know that
you know this, and I know that you rejoice in this if you're
one of his children today. He perfectly loved the Father,
loved his God with all his heart, all his soul, and all his being.
And he perfectly loved his neighbor as himself. And he did that for
us, for his people. He did for us what we could not
and cannot do in and of ourselves. Love, Paul says in this passage,
is the fulfilling end of the law. And so the first exhortation
is love one another. Now in 1 Corinthians 13, you
know that Paul wrote more about love. And I want to point out
a few things he says about love. This love which is produced by
God the Holy Spirit living in us. Love is kind. Now that's just what he said.
Love is kind. It's kind. Did you know that
brotherly kindness is one of those characteristics that Peter
tells believers in his second epistle that we should give diligence
to add to our faith. We begin with faith. No one is
saved apart from faith in Christ. We've already said that. Peter said, add to your faith
virtue. And that word virtue means courage. Courage. Add to your faith, courage. And to virtue, temperance, self-control,
discipline. And to temperance, self-control,
patience. Patience. And to patience, brotherly
kindness. And to brotherly kindness, love. Did you know Luke, he's the author
of the book of Acts, that he tells us that even some barbarians, some barbarians showed kindness. Look with me, if you will, in
Luke chapter 28, or Acts chapter 28. This is when Paul and those
men with him, those with him on that ship were marooned, I
guess you would say, on this island from the shipwreck. They
were forced onto this island. And in Acts chapter 28, Luke
says, verse one, and when they were escaped, then they knew
that the island was called Melita. And notice, and the barbarous
people showed us no little kindness. Even these people that were considered
to be barbarians. Now, it might be argued what
that meant. Maybe it just meant that they
didn't speak the Greek language. I don't know that, but they were
considered to be barbarians. But the point I want to make
is they were, they were lost. They were not saved. The gospel
never come there until Paul comes now, shipwrecked on this island,
preaching the gospel. But Luke tells us, they showed
us no little kindness, for they kindled a fire and received us
every one because of the present rain and because of the cold.
Now, if barbarians, if lost men and women, are capable of showing
kindness, How much more, those of us who know Christ as our
Lord and Savior, how much more should kindness be shown, love
one another among the family of God? Be ye kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you. A second thing that Paul tells
us in 1 Corinthians 13 about love, love is not given to boasting. to boasting, doesn't rejoice,
or a person who has love in his heart, he realizes that he is
what he is by the grace of God. And she is what she is by the
grace of God. What have we that we have not
received? Every child of God knows that.
And that's the reason a believer, a true child of God, has love
towards everyone because we recognize we're not for the love of God.
The love of God that has showed mercy to us and calling us out
of darkness and saving us. There's no depravity that we
could not be guilty of. There's no evil that man has
ever committed that you and I are not capable of committing, but
by the grace of God. And love doesn't boast, doesn't
brag about himself or herself and who he is and what he's done
and all of those things that the world loves to brag about. And they love to brag about others
who have done these things. And number three, Paul says,
love doesn't rejoice in evil. Love doesn't rejoice in hearing
evil, and it doesn't rejoice in repeating the evil deeds of
others. Some people, they just can't
wait to hear some saucy gossip. Well, that's not love. Love doesn't
rejoice in evil. And you know Peter in his letter
wrote love or charity in the King James translation, charity
shall cover a multitude of sins. And that word charity, of course,
I don't know why the King James translators used it, but I'm
sure they had a good reason. But charity has come to mean
today something altogether different than it did in the 1600s, obviously. And many people today have taken
that verse, as it's translated in the King James, charity coverth
a multitude of sins, and they think, well, if I just give to
this charity, I give to the Salvation Army, I give to the Boys and
Girls Club, I give to, there's numbers of charities, right?
And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with giving to those charities. But don't think by giving to
those charities, and this is what men have taught, and some
men believe by their charitable contributions, it's going to
cover their multitude of sins. There's only one thing that covers
sin, there's only one atonement for sin, and that's what the
word atonement means, isn't it? A covering, that's the blood
of Jesus Christ. You could give everything you
have to a charity. It might help them, might help
others, but it would not cover your sins. There's only one remedy
for sin, and that is the blood of Jesus Christ, and thank God
it cleanseth us from all sin. A fourth thing that Paul says
about love there in 1 Corinthians 13, he said, love bears all things. We see that in the Lord Jesus
Christ, don't we? Love bears all things. We sang
that hymn just a moment ago, crown him with many crowns. Crown
him the Lord of love. Amen. Crown him the Lord of love. Love bears all things. While
they were crucifying him, he prayed for his enemies, prayed
for those who were his murderers. So that's the first exhortation
that Paul gives us here. And these are the believers.
He's not writing here to lost men and women. He said, well,
believers should automatically just do these things. No, we
need to be taught. We need to be exhorted. We need
to hear these exhortations. And the first one here is love
one another. I like that, don't you? And I
pray God give me the grace to love His people as I should. The second exhortation is this. Recognize that our salvation
is nearer every day. Verse 11. knowing the time, that now it
is the high time to wake out of sleep, for now is our salvation
nearer than when we believe." Look at these three things that
Paul says that we know in that verse. He says, first of all,
we know the time, and that knowing the time. What time is it? What
does he mean, knowing the time? We know If we're saved, it's
day. We did live in the shadows. We
did live in night, a kingdom of darkness. But now we know
it is day and not night. And we live in the gospel day.
We do not live in that old dispensation when the gospel was pictured
by the types and the shadows that were given in the law of
God. But we live in this day, the
gospel day, in which these shadows, these types have been fulfilled.
And so when we see and we read about the Passover in Exodus
chapter 12, we recognize Christ is our Passover. When we read
about the serpent that was lifted up on the pole, we recognize
Christ is the one lifted up to heal us from our diseases. And
we could just go on and on. We live in the day. That's what
Paul is telling us here. Knowing the time. We know it's
time, it's day. And look over into 2 Timothy,
just a moment. Knowing the time. 2 Timothy chapter
1 and verses 9 and 10. Now, the
resurrection. The fact that men are immortal. It was revealed in the Old Testament. When God spoke to Moses at that
bush that burned, but was not consumed, and he said, I'm the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that tells us right there that
man, Abraham's body turned back to dust, no doubt years and years
before that. But he still was Abraham, and
he still lived. with the Lord. I mean, these
truths were revealed in the Old Testament, but now they've been
brought to light by the coming, the doing, and the dying, and
the rising of Jesus Christ. Look here in 2nd Timothy chapter
1, verse 9. Who hath saved us? And that's
in the past tense, isn't it? who hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Everything that God has that
you need as a sinner is in Christ. In Christ. Notice that next verse. But now, but is now made manifest. These things, the calling, the
saving, these things are now made manifest. They're brought
to the light. How? By the appearing of our
Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death. He's abolished
death. This body will die, yes. But
he said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
He's abolished death. How? By his death. By his death. He has abolished death and brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. We know the time, Paul says. We know the time. And we know
now it is high time. That's an old phrase that people
probably don't use much anymore. I've heard it growing up. Well,
it's high time. It's high time you did this.
Well, Paul here tells us we know the time, and it's high time
Notice how he says, it's high time to awake out of sleep. Not
the sleep of death in which sin has brought us. They've already
been quickened and made alive. These are children of God. But
even to the children of God, he is saying, we know the time
and it's high time that we awake out of sleep. In other words,
we should not allow ourselves to grow lethargic and lazy and
slothful in the things of God. We ought to stir ourselves up
and pray the Lord to stir us up. It's God who worketh in us
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Then we pray and
ask God, work in me. Work in me to will. and to do thy good pleasure. It's high time that we awake. Remember in our Lord's parable
of the 10 virgins, five were saved, five were lost, five had
oil in their lamps, five did not, five had the gift of the
Holy Spirit, that is they had eternal life, five didn't, that's
the picture, but all 10 went to sleep. Paul is saying it's
high time. We know the time, and it's high
time that we awake out of our sleep. That is the spiritual
sluggishness and slothfulness that believers sometimes get
into. You say, well, do children of
God actually get into that state? Absolutely. You read that last
letter that our Lord wrote to the church at Laodicea? And they'd
become lukewarm, had they not. They'd become lukewarm. And our
Lord said, behold, I stand at the door and knock. He's talking
to the church, isn't he? He's writing to the church at
Laodicea. Behold, I stand. He's on the
outside, evidently knocking. And the church is asleep. A church
is asleep like Jonah was asleep in the bottom of that ship. When
the waves were tossing the ship every which way, and here's a
believer, here's a child of God, he's asleep. Our Lord's speaking
to the church to awake, it's high time. God's people be awake. And the reason is, as he tells
us here, is because our salvation is near. It's nearer than when
we believed. Every day that we live, We come
one day nearer, right? What is he talking about, our
salvation? He's talking about that eternal life with God. In that place that the Lord has
prepared for His people because of His love for us. A place where
there's fullness of joy. A place where there's no more
sadness, no more sorrow. No more sickness, no more death,
no more separation, no more misunderstandings. A place of bliss. A wonderful,
glorious place that He has prepared. We're one day nearer. Every day
we get one day closer. to saying goodbye to this world,
goodbye to sin, goodbye to everything that harms and threatens God's
people. Wake up, wake up. That's his
second exhortation. Now here's the third, and I'll
be very brief on the third and fourth. The third exhortation
is to cast off the works of darkness. Verses 12 and 13. The night is
far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore, here it is,
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. You see, here are three, he divides
these into three categories of things that we are to cast off.
cast off the works of darkness, first of all, rioting and drunkenness. And it goes without saying that
these things that he mentions here were so common, they're
so commonplace in that society and that day, but isn't it true
we're living in the same day? The same society, rioting and
drunkenness. He's talking to believers, cast
that off. That was your way of living before
the Lord had mercy upon you and saving you. Now cast that off,
the works of darkness. And then he names two more, chambering
and wantonness. And this includes all kinds of
sexual immoralities, sexual sinness. To the Ephesian believers, he
wrote, but fornication and all uncleanness. Let it not once,
let it not be once named among you as become saints. And then
the third thing, strife and envy. Let us walk honestly as in the
day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envy. Have you ever Heard a person confess envy. I know God's people. We do confess
the sin of envy to the Lord. So I never have had to do that.
Well, that's strange because most people at one time or other
are envious of something. It may be something so foolish,
even envious of of a place, a person maybe has a different place,
and a different gift, or more money, or better job, or nicer
house, or whatever. Envy. These things should not
be named among God's children. After He's given us what He's
given us, if we're His children, how could we ever be envious
of anything? You know, man is so depraved,
and I'm talking about all of us, we're so depraved that we
believe that we could do a better job than God in ordering our
lives, in ordering the providence of our lives. We just feel like
we could do a better job. I would change this. I would
change that. What was it the preacher said one time? He said,
if we had all power, we would change everything. But if we
had all wisdom, we wouldn't change anything. Amen? Envy, let it not be once named
among us. There's a fourth and last exhortation. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice that in verse 14. But put you on the Lord Jesus
Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the
lust thereof. One of the writers that I like
to read, very knowledgeable of Greek language, and he made this
comment. He said, to put on a person,
and that's what we are told to do. That's what we are exhorted
here to do. Put on, put on, put on the Lord
Jesus Christ. To us, in our language, that
sounds very strange, very hard even. But then he went on to
say that in the Greek language, it's frequently used, this terminology,
this way of speaking. And the meaning is, and this
is the point I wanted to make, the meaning is, what does it
mean to put on the Lord Jesus Christ? The meaning is to imbib,
drink, or receive His principles, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. To receive His principles, to
imitate His example, to copy His Spirit, in other words, to
become like Him. Look with me in closing, 2 Corinthians
3. 2 Corinthians 3, verses 17 and
18. 2 Corinthians 3, verses 17 and
18. Now the Lord is that spirit,
and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we
all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord. Now notice this next line. Are
changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the
Spirit of the Lord. Now this glass that we look in
was a mirror and the mirrors that they had at that time were
made out of brass. Wasn't anything like the mirrors
that we have today. But we look into the mirror and
the mirror is The Word of God. We look into the Word of God
and we behold Him. That is Christ. As we look into
the Word of God, we are beholding Him with an open face. And as
we see Him, as we imbibe, as we drink and receive His principles,
imitate His example, copy His spirit, we become, as it says
here, we're changed into the same image from glory to glory. Don't you want to be like Christ?
The scriptures tells us that he has predestinated us to be
conformed to the image of his son. And this work of predestination,
it goes on even now, doesn't it? As we behold him in this
mirror of the word of God. Well, those are four exhortations
that I wanted to bring. And maybe I shouldn't say this, but I wish every... We've got a lot
of people out sick, right? And we all needed to hear this
message. But God gave it to me for today.
And so it's for us that are here. And I know it's for all of God's
children, but we need these exhortations, don't we? We do. If we didn't, we wouldn't have
them in the Word of God. God gave them to us. And to preach
the whole counsel of God, to preach the Word of God, that's
what I want to do. May the Lord bless His Word to
all of us and make it a blessing to us here this morning and pray