I've chosen as my text this morning a passage out of Romans chapter 13. If you will take your Bibles and turn there, Paul's epistle to the Romans, we're going to look at verses eight through 14. And I've entitled my discourse to you "Awaken the Day is Near." Let me read the passage. Romans 13, beginning with verse eight, "Owe, nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,' and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ' YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR ARS YOURSELF.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts."

As we embark upon a new year, I believe it's appropriate for us to begin with an understanding and a firm conviction of how important it is for us to be sober minded as believers; especially as it relates to the schemes of the devil as he tries to destroy us, destroy our families. And therefore we need to awaken ourselves, awaken our life, to a greater sense of obedience and service to Christ. We're very familiar with that term that's batted around all the time, the term "woke." It's really a nebulous, liberal buzzword that encompasses an obsession with social inequalities, real or perceived, such as racial injustice or sexism, LGBTQ discrimination, and so forth. And of course, all of this has fueled the morally bankrupt groups like the alphabet mafia. Black Lives Matter, DEI, which is now collapsing under its own stupidity--thankfully; and even the pro-Hamas movement that we are dealing with today. Of course, none of this can coexist with biblical Christianity, yet it is being forced upon us at alarming rates. And very successfully, I might add, even in so-called "woke" churches. We are commanded in Romans 12 nine to quote, "Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good." And Paul said in First Thessalonians 5:21 that we are to "abstain from every form of evil." Evil is essentially everything that God opposes. It can be classified really under two headings, moral evil and supernatural evil. Moral evil, is that evil and that enemy within us; supernatural evil is that enemy outside of us. Moral evil is basically sin that dominates human life; wickedness that violates the law of God. It's the abominations that God describes. There's a number of them, especially the abomination of sexual immorality, homosexuality, transgenderism, murder, idolatry and so forth. In fact, Proverbs six beginning of verse 16, we read, "There are six things which the Lord hates, yes seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers." So those types of things would be consistent with moral evil that we are to abstain from and to abhor.

But then there's supernatural evil, that's demonic evil; the unmitigated wickedness that characterizes Satan's world system. And we're all aware of First John 5:19 that says that, "The whole world lies in the power of the evil one." The world certainly is the the supernatural expression of evil against which we all wrestle as believers. Abhoring what is evil and abstaining from it and clinging to what is good will always be the mark of a true believer and distinguish true believers from false believers. R.H Mounce said, quote, "To love God is to regard evil with horror. Unfortunately, familiarity with a culture that is shaped by the forces of Satan has lulled to many believers into a state of general tolerance for whatever deviant behavior is in vogue at present. We are to abhor evil, because it is the enemy of all that leads to Christlikeness." As I have written elsewhere, it is appalling to witness the creative yet blasphemous ways the Bible is distorted among many professing Christians in their effort to embrace everything from homosexuality to transgenderism, as if such things are morally acceptable in God's eyes. Worse yet, such blatantly unbiblical positions are boldly touted as being examples of Christian love, when just the opposite is true. When the eternal souls of men and women are at stake, there can be no greater act of hatred, than to make people comfortable in their sin, and thus doom them to God's righteous judgment, like the false prophets, who, according to Jeremiah, 23:14, and 16, "strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah...They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord."

So what must we do as we face a new year? How can we fortify ourselves against all of the things that we see surrounding us that are evil? All of the damning deceptions? How can we protect our children from them? How can we honor God in the battle? How can we enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ in the midst of the types of things we are experiencing in our culture?

You know, I was thinking about this, with respect to the term "woke" as Christians; we need to be woke in the biblical sense, right? This was Paul's concern for the persecuted saints at Rome, that we read in our text this morning, especially in verse 11, he says, "Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us, nearer to us than when we believed." So he says, "Do this," well do what? Curse the Romans? Obsess over all of the evil of that day? Compromise with the world so that somehow they will like Christ? And like us? No, he says, instead, "lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." And that's what we want to understand better this morning so that we can apply these principles to our life in a very practical and real way in the days ahead.

You will recall in Ephesians six, the Apostle Paul speaks to us about the armor that we need to wear in this battle against Satan's world system. He says beginning in verse 11, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm." And then, as you will recall, he goes on to describe the various pieces of armor that symbolizes our need for sound doctrine for truth, for holy living. Likewise, Paul said in First Thessalonians, five, beginning in verse four, "But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief." There the day is referring to the "day of the Lord" that has been described previously. The day of the Lord is for the people of the night, the time of judgment, the people who prefer darkness rather than light not for people of the day. He went on to say, "for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation."

So Paul's admonition in our text here this morning, especially in verse 12, will further elucidate these great principles in a very practical way. He says, "The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." And again, I find it fascinating--he's addressing persecuted saints, trying to encourage them, helping them to know what they are to do. And by the way, they were persecuted in ways that are far beyond what we are experiencing. And they were about to experience things even far worse. But there is no call here to political activism. There is no call here to rebellion against the government, as evil as that government was, but rather his overall emphasis, in this chapter, is to live submissively as living sacrifices, especially as it relates to fulfilling our obligation to love one another, in light of the end of the age.

Isn't it true that when we are besieged with evil all around us, it's easy for us to focus our attention on the evildoers, right? And neglect our own heart. We can get angry at all of the wicked things that we see, that we experience; the unfair things, the insane things that we see, that's indicative of the wrath of divine abandonment on our country, consistent with Romans one, where he finally just gives people over to a worthless mind, literally a mind that cannot function. It's easy to shake our fist at all of those things, and neglect the issues of our own heart, and that's what Paul is dealing with here. And that's what we must hear as well. We must love our enemies enough to give them the gospel, to pray for them. And most importantly, we must love the Lord our God, with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, our all of our strength. And when we do this, we will be obedient to Him. And we will love one another because dear friends, we need one another, especially in great times of difficulty. We need fellowship, we need to be around other believers. And we need to love them; and this is the heart of the apostle's admonitions.

Let me give you the context here. You will recall that Paul has just explained the astounding doctrine of the justification of faith, along with the amazing truths pertaining to Israel's election, defection and salvation as we read in Romans 9,10 and 11. And then beginning in chapter 12, he addresses the very practical issues concerning the Christians attitude toward God, toward fellow believers, and all people, even civil authorities. And now in verses eight through 14, he summarizes these great truths by drawing our attention to the second commandment, that we should love our neighbor as ourself. Again, persecution can lead to frustration, it can lead to anger, it could lead to hatred, it can wear us down and cause us to become self-focused. And so without us realizing it, we can become just the opposite of who we are to be and how we are to think and how we are to function. For example, how we are to love our neighbor as delineated in that great Treatise of love that's found in First Corinthians 13. Allow me to read the opposite of what the Apostle Paul says. And I'll try to make that very practical for each of us. If we are impatient, unkind, jealous, we love to brag about ourselves, if we're arrogant, rude, demanding, controlling, easily offended; if we keep a record of wrongs if we try to justify our unrighteousness; if we tolerate error and untruths in our life, if we gossip and love to expose, ridicule, criticize, and harm those we don't like, rather than trying to cover their sin and support and protect and restore them. Or if we are always suspicious of others, and immediately believe the worst in them. If we have a reputation as one who has no desire to restore others to righteousness, especially those people that we don't like, if we quickly give up hope that God's grace will restore a person that has fallen, if we give up on others easily instead of enduring with them with a steadfast faith in God's redeeming and restoring love. If that is us, dear friends, then our love bears little, if any, resemblance to Christ's love for us. And we stand guilty as charged, do we not?

We all struggle with these things, even more so when difficulties are pressed upon us. And as a result, we forfeit God's blessing in our life. We grieve the spirit, we can forfeit the Spirit's work in our life, and quench that work. Little by little, we become ruled by our own flesh rather than the spirit. And worse yet, we undermine our witness for Christ. Because in our life, the way we function, is dishonoring to him. So I've chosen as a real simple outline, to look at this passage this morning-- three categories that I hope will help us all grasp what the Spirit of God is saying through his inspired writer. We're going to see the priority, the function and the urgency of love.

First of all, notice what he says with respect to the priority of love. He says, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another." Now, you may recall that he has just exhorted Christians to pay their taxes to civil authorities. And he now focuses on the same obligation to pay our debts in our private life, namely, the debt of love. A debt that can never be fully paid. I mean think about it, none of us can say you know, I have loved all I need to love, my obligation is now finished; none of us can say that. The 20th century theologian H.C.G. Moule, said this, "The Christian is to allow no debt to remain outstanding except the one that can never be paid off-- the debt to love one another. The obligation to love has no limit."

Now, as a footnote, this is not a prohibition against borrowing money, as some people will claim. Jesus permitted that, for example, in Matthew 5:42. He said, "'Give to him who asks of you and do not turn away from Him who wants to borrow from you.'" In fact, borrowing and lending money were permitted under the Mosaic Law, according to Exodus 22 and verse 25. However, nowhere in Scripture are we justified to borrow more than we can afford to pay back or for the reason of purchasing luxuries that we really don't need and we can't afford. But we can also conclude, even from this statement, that the financial debts are to be paid promptly. And in this connection, we read according to Psalm 37:21, "The wicked borrows but does not pay back." It's like the one who runs up his or her credit card, buying more than they can possibly pay back and eventually they drown in debt. And then they get bailed out by somebody else and we all pay for it with higher interest rates, right? That's how that whole thing works. But Paul's use of the imagery of debt here, you must understand this--it extends far beyond the issue of personal finances. It speaks of the Christian's perpetual obligation of love. That's his point here. We are debtors to God for the undeserved mercy and grace of his love that he is lavished upon us. We are to love the Lord our God, and to love our neighbors and because of God's transforming grace, the Holy Spirit dwells within us. And therefore, we have all of the necessary resources to make payments on all of this.

First Thessalonians, four nine, "you yourselves are taught by God to love one another." And is this not the first fruit of the Spirit? In Galatians, five and verse 22, the Holy Spirit that prompted us to come to repentant faith, that caused us to see our sin for what it was and to see who Christ is, and what he has done for us--that same Holy Spirit prompts the believer to obedience, that is the desire of our heart. Especially in the realm of self-sacrificing love. You see, obedience will be the natural desire of that transformed heart, and what an amazing resource we have in Christ, to help us love as we should. In fact, we read in Romans five, five, Paul reminds us that, "The love of God has poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

You see, the point with all of this is when we submit to the Holy Spirit, in our daily walk, we have at our disposal, the supernatural power of the indwelling Spirit that produces within us an inexhaustible reservoir of self-sacrificing love with which we can love others. So the key is walking by the Spirit, being obedient to the Spirit of God, as He has revealed Himself in His Word. And when we do that, this love is going to be a fruit that just naturally grows on the vine of our life. May I ask you, is this kind of love a distinguishing characteristic of your life? Would those who know you best say that it is? But our love must not only be extended to our brothers and sisters in Christ, but even to the unsaved. Our first obligation is to fellow Christians. We read this, for example, in John 13, beginning in verse 34. "'A new commandment,'" Jesus says, "'I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you that you, also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.'" So fellow believers are to be the first priority in love. They are to hold a special place in our hearts. In fact, Paul speaks of this in Romans 12 and verse 10. He says, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor," verse 13, he says, "contributing to the needs of the saints." Then he says, "practicing hospitality." The term "practicing" in the original language carries the idea of vigorous effort, intentional effort; using our home to help those in need, does that describe you? Is that a desire of your heart?

This, by the way, is at the heart of our philosophy of missions here at Calvary Bible Church, to first meet the needs of our own people, meet the needs of others as best we can around the world who know and love Christ. Our priority of benevolence is first to the saints. We see this for example, in Galatians six and verse 10, where Paul says, "while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." And Paul even exhorts us to love fellow believers in his letter to the Colossians. He said this in Colossians, three beginning in verse 12, "And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so that so you also so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity."

But again, our love must be extended to all men even unbelievers, even our enemies, which is a fascinating thought; very difficult for us to comprehend. I'll try to make it clear. Jesus made this clear in Matthew 5:44. First of all, he says, "'You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'" And Paul said in Romans 12, verse 14, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not." Now, if you're like me, the natural response, typically of my flesh, is not to bless, but to retaliate. You know, to get even, to curse them somehow. But I have to make a choice to love. And by the way, the more we walk by the Spirit, the easier that choice is. So we are to pray for them. To seek to do them good. He goes on in verse 20 and following, "'BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." And this would include being obedient to the list that's found with respect to love in First Corinthians 13. And it would also include praying for the lost, giving them the gospel--doing all we can to somehow demonstrate the love of Christ to them so that they would come to repentant faith.

But I would also add, and this is very important, because sometimes people get confused with this. This is not a call to pacifism. This is not a call to pacifism or allowing evil to go unpunished or unrestrained. Loving your neighbor would include defending them from criminal attacks, from deceptive practices and even grievous sin in the church. I mean, there is a place for church discipline--Matthew 18. And there is a place to reject a factious man--Titus 3:10. There is a place for turning away from those who cause dissensions and hindrances in the church--Romans 16, 17 and following. There is even a time for war--Ecclesiastes three and verse eight. Which I might add as a necessary component of divine justice, and an extension of capital punishment. Genesis nine six tells us, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed." Now, the misguided pacifist will say, "Well, how can you harmonize a call to arms with Jesus blessings on meekness; we are to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, return good for evil?" Well, the answer is, in every case, when Jesus called for these virtuous attitudes, the issue was always the need for the mortification of pride that inevitably seeks retaliation for personal offenses. That was the issue. Jesus' passion was a call to surrender our fanatical, rabid commitment to personal rights and vengeance. That's just so natural for us and replace those attitudes with the love of Christ. But never do these admonitions apply to the very appropriate, and many times necessary, need for defense and retaliation against criminal offenses in the military aggression of evil men. I can assure you, if Hamas terrorists break into my house, I'm not going to reach for a Bible track, I'm gonna reach for my gun. I'm gonna love my family enough to protect them. I'm not going to say well, here's my other cheek, you know, go ahead and do these vicious things. I hope you understand that. God even considers capital punishment, as I said earlier, as a logical extension in war. And that is even a deterrent to crime as indicated in Deuteronomy 17, verse 13, where he warns, quote, "Then all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again."

So all of that to say God's call for us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek carries the idea of mortifying our self-centered pride, and our natural proclivity to retaliate when we are personally offended. It's not a blanket call to pacifism. So verse eight, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another." There's the priority of love. Now secondly, notice the function of love. The end of verse eight, "for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." And here we see that this all-embracing love has a function and what is it? Well, it fulfills the law. And that is our duty. We cannot be obedient to God's law, if we do not love as we should. And Paul is merely repeating what Jesus said about the law being summed up in the commandments to love, as we read in Matthew 22, beginning in verse 37, where Jesus said, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.'" Now bear in mind, no man is saved by keeping the law. I hope you understand that. "By the works of the law," according to Romans 3:20, "no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." So Paul is not saying that, hey, if you just really love other people, the way you should, then you will fulfill the law and be saved. By the way, no one could ever love perfectly. No one could ever love the Lord perfectly.

And secondly, we know that salvation is always by grace through faith. Romans three verse 21, we read, "But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested." In verse 24. He says, sinners are "justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." So how does love fulfill the law? Very appropriate question. I'm glad you asked. There's many places we could go to answer that, but Romans eight, beginning in verse three helps us. There we read that God, "condemned sin in the flesh," referring to how sin and that condemnation was poured out upon the flesh of Christ on the cross--in order that "the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Beloved, this is so exciting, as Christians, think about this, we are no longer concerned about somehow meeting the requirements of the law in order to be saved. Right? All of that was taken care of on the cross. That's the great doctrine of justification; whereby the imputed righteousness of Christ causes God to say that we are now declared as righteous. But what he is saying here is that the requirement of the Law is now being fulfilled in us as the Holy Spirit works through and in us to cause us to walk in faith and obedience. It's the Spirit that empowers us to love. Again, bear in mind, the Law reflects the character of God. And for this reason, the Law is still perfectly valid, in that sense. But now, as we walk "according to the Spirit," as the Apostle says, God Himself fulfills the requirements of the Law in us and through us. And by our love for God and others, we put his holiness, and we put his glory on display. Beloved, this is the function of love; to fulfill the law by the power of the Holy Spirit that causes us to manifest the love of God in our lives, to the praise of his glory.

But there is more. As we love God and our neighbor, it is unimaginable what God does. Because when we do that God reciprocates in ways that are inconceivably precious. When we do that, the Triune God discloses himself to us, in intimate and powerful ways. We read about this in John 14:21, where Jesus said, "'He who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and he will disclose Myself to him.'" In other words, he will cause me to be manifested in a more intimate way to you, to make me more fully known in you, to reveal more of who I am in you. In verse 23, went on to say, "'and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.'" The term "abode" means to settle down, to make your home permanently. What a magnificent promise to experience the soul exhilarating joy of the presence of the Triune God deep within our soul. And the key to that is being obedient in loving others, even when we are persecuted.

Next, verse nine of chapter 13, Paul is going to illustrate what love looks like. He's going to cite five specific Old Testament laws. The first four are taken directly from the 10 commandments and the fifth from one that is cited in Leviticus 19 and verse 18, if you want to be technical. He says this in verse nine, "For this, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,' And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'" I love the way Hendrickson explains Paul's emphasis here, very helpful. He said, quote, "You shall love and therefore not commit adultery, but preserve the sacredness of the marriage bond. You shall love and therefore not murder, but help your neighbor keep alive and well. You shall love and accordingly not steal anything that belongs to your neighbor, but rather protect his possessions. You shall love and as a result, not covet what belongs to your neighbor, but rejoice in the fact that it is his." End quote. And by loving in such a way, we love our neighbor as ourselves.

You ever thought about that how you love yourself? Boy, I love myself warts and all, right? I am hopelessly biased in my own favor. I mean, I can see the speck in your eye, a mile away, I can't see the log in my own. That's how we love ourselves unconditionally. That's how we are to love our neighbor. We're blind to our own faults, right? We simply don't see our own faults typically. And when we do, they don't bother us that much, until the Spirit of God really gets a hold of us. Bear in mind that sin manifests itself primarily in the context of relationships. Our love of self warps our personality and it creates a myriad of manipulative and destructive interpersonal styles of relating. I mean, we could go around this room and just start pointing out each other's interpersonal style of relating, you know, and we can see that some are obnoxious, some are strange, others are controlling. Others are bossy, critical, angry, arrogant, goofy, flamboyant, rude, on and on it goes. And seldom do we realize how we impact other people. Because we're so comfortable with our interpersonal style of relating; it works for us. It's how our flesh functions. But boy we can sure get upset when somebody else's interpersonal style of relating bugs us; bothers us; causes conflict in us. But whether we like a person or not, we still must choose to love them. You've heard me say this jokingly before--and I sincerely mean this--I love all of you, but I wouldn't want to go camping for a week with all of you. I mean, that's just how it works, right? We're all different. But we love one another, and we care for one another.

Paul then adds this summary statement in verse 10, "Love does no wrong to a neighbor." Unless the guy's a jerk. Oh, no, no, it doesn't say that--I'm sorry. "Love does no wrong to a neighbor, love therefore is the fulfillment of the law." Indeed, love does no wrong to a neighbor because it's seeking the neighbor's highest good. You know agape love is that self-sacrificing love; that love of choice. It's the opposite of self-love, that is really at the heart of sin. And bear this in mind the next time you attack or ignore a neighbor, or the next time you deliberately seek to injure someone you don't like. When you do that you are not fulfilling the law. You're violating it and you're bringing reproach upon Christ. And you will forfeit blessing in your life and even bring about divine chastening, because typically that will become a pattern in your life. Don't you love being around people that really love other people? I mean, you can, it's like you can see it just almost immediately when you're around them. And then there's those others where it's kind of like, you know, when you turn the magnets where they won't come together, you know, you've got that, that can go on too. Well, even when you have that kind of person, you need to love them. And maybe by God's grace, they will come around.

So we've seen the priority of love, the purpose of love and then now we move into, I should say, the function of love, and then we move finally to the urgency of love. And I'll close with this. In verse 11 he says, "Do this, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed." So when he says, "and this do," he's referring to all the preceding admonitions, don't just read them, don't ignore them; don't be just a hearer of the word. But be a doer of the word. Why? Knowing the time, literally the season, the era in which you live-- which in this context, he's referring to the last days, the age of apostasy that will culminate in our Lord's return. And here the apostle is basically making an appeal to eschatology, to the imminent return of the Lord. And "this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep." "Ypnos" in the original language, we get "hypnosis" from that or "hypnotism." And many Christians live as if they're, they've been hidden and hypnotized by the world. They're spiritually asleep. They're oblivious to all the things going on around them. They're unresponsive to the Word and the will of God; there's no sense of urgency. They just kind of live out their life, looking for the next tailgate party. There's no imperatives in their life; there's no passion to present themselves as a living and holy sacrifice to God, which is pleasing to Him. Because He is coming, he's watching and he's coming. And that's what Paul is saying here. Make it a priority here--to love in this way, to do these things.

In fact, many people have no interest in Bible prophecy. "It's so confusing. Let's don't even study it. We don't know when he's going to come. So let's just don't worry about it." Well, that's not at all what the Lord tells us, what Christ inspired John to write in Revelation one and verse three. He said, "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near." By the way time there's the same word that Paul uses here in verse 11. The season, the era of Christ's return, the next great epoch of redemptive history, will be the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I must ask you, is there anything pertaining to your spiritual life that you would say is really urgent? Pressing, burning? Well, what Paul is saying here, he's exhorting us to make this something that is urgent, the things that he's been talking about here in this text. You know, we expect apathy from non-believers, they're blinded by their sin, they're at enmity with God. They hear the things of God and they think it's stupid. They can't believe anybody would believe any of these things, or live for any of these things, because they're spiritually dead. We were the same way until the Spirit of God changed us. But obviously, this was a serious issue, even for the saints in the first century. The imminent return of Christ and all of his glory was a powerful motivation in Paul's life, and it should be for us as well. First Corinthians 15, verse 34, Paul said, "Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame." So again, he writes in verse 11, of Romans 13, "And this do, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep." It's time for you to be woke, Christians--woke in the biblical sense. To be awakened to a life of greater obedience and service to Christ, especially with respect to our love for him and for one another. He even shook the lethargic saints in Ephesus, in Ephesians five verse 14, he said "Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." You see, there is no place for indolence in the Christian life; there is no place for apathy. There is no place for just kind of letting things go. Beloved, we are at war. And if you don't see that, you're a fool. You have been blinded. We are at war; the king is coming. That's why Paul said in Ephesians five, verse 16. "Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is." Think about this the next time you post something on Facebook, the place where our culture tends to go to worship the idol of self, to get affirmed, to promote themselves. To put that real practically, can you imagine the apostle Paul, if they had Facebook and social media in that day, posting things about himself, all the trivia about his life? I mean, can you imagine a post like "Well, hey, had another run with the Scribes and Pharisees today. Took them to task, they got mad, as usual, getting behind on my tent making. You know, anybody that needs a tent let me know, sales are kind of slow right now. Oh, and still struggling with aching joints; the olive oil is not working. If anybody has any recommendations, let me know." You see what I mean? We laugh, don't we? Because those things are utterly absurd to the priority of seeing men and women come to saving faith in Christ and loving them enough to share the gospel. We are to be like Christ, we are to be about the business of the Heavenly Father. And in his first letter, Peter admonished believers in First Peter four, verse 7. That, quote, "The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." And similarly, James wrote, in James five verse eight, "Be patient; strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand." In other words, it's the next major thing that's going to happen in God's timetable.

So dear Christian, be careful. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold so that you begin to think and act like them and lose perspective of what's really important. Again, verse 11, "And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed." In fact, it's now 2000 years nearer than when they believed right? And here's the urgency of it all, in verse 12, he goes on to say, "The night is almost gone, the day is at hand." Night speaks of the darkness of Satan's kingdom. Some men love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. In this age of spiritual blindness and unbelief and rebellion against God the Most High, is almost gone. It carries the idea of it's nearly over, it's ready to draw to a close, the next thing will be the return of the King. And then he says, "and the day is at hand." That's a New Testament term used to describe the dawning, as it were, of Christ's glorious appearing. Obviously, it's used here, and serves as a stark contrast to the night of evil and deception and wickedness and rebellion.

So Paul exhorts us all to be motivated to love, to obedience, because it's urgent. "The night is almost gone, the day is at hand. Therefore," he says in verse 12, "let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." The laying aside is used in other passages. It even carries the idea of changing your clothes. You might say here, folks, it's time to take off your pajamas and put on your armor. Because we're at war. That's the idea. Break away from your old way of living; all the worldliness; all the immaturity.

Verse 13, "Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing"--interesting term. It carries the idea of a binge party, an occasion for excessive eating or drinking with moral debauchery, normally ensuing. And he says, "drunkenness"--behave properly, not in drunkenness, "not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality." My that's a fascinating term in the original language. It means "shameless immorality." Don't we see that today? The way immorality is flaunted in our culture, there is no shame anymore. It carries the idea of indulgence and in sensual pleasure that is unrestrained by any kind of convention or morality. To put it real practically, it's the spring break mentality. It's the honky tonk mentality. It's the strip joint mentality. Break away from that, don't have any part of that. And then he says, as well, "not in strife or jealousy." Strife or just referring to bitter conflict--sometimes that can lead to violence. But instead, verse 14, "Put on," it literally carries the idea of clothing yourself, "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." The verb "put on" carries the idea of decisive action. It’s something you better see, you better commit yourself to, it's urgent--"put on the Lord Jesus Christ." It is a deliberate choice to let Jesus Christ be the armor that you wear. That's the idea; to be like Him, to live to the praise of his glory.

Then he says, "and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." "Make no provision," the original language helps us understand that this is referring to this idea of not allowing anything to have any kind of evil to have a place in our thinking. We don't want to think about that, we don't want to see it, we don't want to act on it. Give it no opportunity--no opportunity for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Then in Ephesians four, verse 24, Paul says, the same thing, "put on the new self." What is the new self? The one that has been transformed, right? The one that has been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. This is, again, the glory of regeneration. Where there's a spiritual resurrection--we once were dead--he causes us to rise from spiritual death to spiritual life; we become a new creature in Christ, the old things pass away, the new things come. Our every desire, and the disposition of our mind and our heart, is now going in a radically different direction. Unless we allow ourselves, to once again, fall back into sin. Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. May I challenge you, dear church family, make this your New Year's resolution. May we be a church that is known for our love. May we be a church that abhors what is evil, and clings to that which is good, that abstains from every form of evil. May we be a church that is fully awake to the reality that the night is almost gone and the day is at hand? Folks live in light of the return of our glorious Savior and King. These are dark days. Yes, absolutely. But my, they're exciting days, are they not? What a contrast God has given the world to see the light of Christ emanating from us, from our lives as our lives redound to the glory of God, and they see Christ in us. So let's be the light that we should be. And that it's manifested primarily in our love for Him and our love for one another. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. My, they speak so directly to each one of us. And rightfully so, because it is your spirit that has written them. And it is your spirit that illuminates our hearts, so that we cannot just understand them intellectually, but we can embrace them wholeheartedly, in the very core of our being and live them out with great joy. So we pray to that end that you will help us to do as you have asked us to do and that in so doing, we might enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ and that others will come to a place of genuine saving faith. We ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen.