Sermon for 6/26/2005
Romans 13:11-14
Knowing the Time
Introduction:
Not long ago the boys had a T- ball game so we all went. We got there at 11 and went to the field and our team was not there. We got up with the coach and somehow our communications got confused and the game was at 10. They had already played the game and left. All because, we did not know the correct time of the game.
Let me ask you a question, “What time is it?” Look at your watch. I don’t have a watch because some people got irritated with me looking at my watch while they were trying to tell me something. It was as if I had more important things to do. Plus I always lost my watch so I no longer wear a watch.
However, to fulfill all our obligations we need to know the time!
WBTU:
A. Our Scripture text begins with the phrase, “understanding the present time” or in the New King James “Knowing the Time”.
B. God is not bound by time but he is keeping time on this earth. He is working up to a time when He will end this age and move on to another one. We, who are Christians, need to be aware of this and to know that it is time for us to do certain things.
Thesis: According to the passage before us this morning, we must realize that it is:
For instances:
1. Time to Wake Vs. 11
A. When Paul talks about “Knowing the time” here he is not talking about a chronological time like 11:30 am on June 26, 2005. Instead he is talking about an epoch, an era, or the age in which we live.
B. We are actually living in the last times before Jesus comes to take us home.
C. Because this age is almost over, and because Jesus could come at any time, we are told here to “Wake Up!”
E. When someone is not “with it” mentally or spiritually, we often wonder when the person will “wake up” and face reality, and do what is necessary. We talk about getting a “wake up” call.
F. Paul is calling us to awake from spiritual “unconsciousness, Unresponsiveness, and inactivity concerning the things of God.” Rouse us to reality!
G. (1 Cor 15:34 NIV) Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your shame.
I. We as Christians can very easily be unconscious to the things of God. We ignore them. We’re saved, but it doesn’t sink in as to what we should be doing.
J. We as Christians are often unresponsive to the Word of God. The preacher gives a message, and we know he’s right. He then gives a challenge for us to fix what’s wrong, to make a decision for Christ, or to do what the Bible tells us to do. We go home and forget what was talked about just 10 minutes after the service!
K. A 77 year old man in Palm Harbor, Florida, is a sleepwalker. One day 77 year old James Currens sleepwalked out of his house, stumbled down an embankment and didn’t wake up until he was stuck in an alligator infested pond. A neighbor heard him hollering for help and called the police around 5 am. Mr. Currens was found fighting off those alligators with his cane in his hand. There were 8 to 10 gators. And if he hadn’t awoken he’d been gator breakfast? Brothers and sisters, sleepwalking and sleep living will get you into trouble!
L. Wait a minute. Weren’t we saved though the plan of salvation? Belief is the first step. But that is not enough. The demons believe and shudder. Must repent, confess and be baptized. It ends at baptism. No not really.
M. How can our salvation be closer if it has already happened?
N. Salvation is in 3 tenses, past, present and future. Talked about this a few weeks ago. Add to these thoughts with discussion of three Biblical words.
1. Justification- past (For Christians, for some here it is in the future).
a. At a specific moment in time, I believed on the finished work of Christ, His death, burial and resurrection for my sins. I was buried with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection through baptism to remove my sins.
b. (Rom 6:4, 6-7 NIV) We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
c. Just as if I had never sinned.
d. (Rom 4:25 NIV) He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
2. Sanctification- present
a. We are growing in Christ and living a holy life
b. Through our justification in Christ, the Holy Spirit comes in and sanctifies us.
c. (2 Th 2:13 NIV) But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
d. (1 Th 5:23 NIV) May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
e. No salvation apart from sanctification. If no desire to grow, if no desire to be holy we must question our justification. There will be a change.
3. Glorification- future.
a. This is when the Lord Jesus comes back for his church.
b. (1 Pet 1:21 NIV) Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
c. When Christ rose from the dead through the power of God, he ascended into heaven and there he is glorified as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
d. One day something similar will happen to us. We will be raised from the dead with a new body and we will be glorified by going into heaven with Christ.
e. (1 John 3:2 NIV) Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
O. In Romans 13 Paul is talking about our final salvation. And of course, it is nearer than when we first believed.
Q. If he came right now, would we be delighted to see Him and be unashamed? Or would we be ashamed of our condition?
R. One more thought: When Christ comes; it will be too late to pray, live a godly life, or witness to the unsaved. It must be done now. It’s time for us to Wake Up!
2. Time to Walk Vs. 13
A. Our walk here refers to our conduct. There is a positive conduct in this verse in which we should walk. There is also a negative conduct in this verse in which we should not walk!
C. There were times when growing up, that I did not behave in a way a member of the Huss family should behave. And my father let me know it.
D. On the job if you do not behave the way a member of your company should behave, you are told about it.
F. For Christians there is a code of behavior.
G. As Christians, we are children of the day, not the night. What did your parents tell you when you wanted to go out after midnight? During the day people act more respectable. Anyone out after dark is up to no good.
H. Throw or fling these things away.
H. This leads to how we should not walk:
1. Not in Rioting, revelry, or orgies
2. Not in drunkenness
3. Not in sexual immorality
4. Not in debauchery or lewdness
5. Not in dissension or strife
6. Not in jealous envy. Seeking to tear others down to make one feel better.
3. Time to Wear Vs. 12, 14
A. Vs. 12- I wear different clothes for different occasion. I wear old ripped up jeans and an old shirt when I go fishing. As you can see, I didn’t wear those for this morning’s service.
B. Before you and I became Christians, we thought certain things to be acceptable behavior. But these things turned out to be sinful, and now that we are Christians, we need to get changed into different clothes.
C. We need to take off our “night clothes” of sin, and put on our day clothes of righteousness.
D. We need to undress by taking off the works of darkness. We must decide to remove those things which do not please God, that are still left from our old lives.
E. We put on the armor of light. (Eph 6:13 NIV) Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
F. Vs. 14- It is one thing to put on a team uniform, like say the Cubs or Braves. It is quite another thing to act like one of their star players, like Greg Maddux or Ryne Sandberg.
H. We have, in a sense, the team uniform. We are the Christians. We are to live like the star of the team- Our Lord Jesus Christ.
I. We have an advantage over my trying to be Ryne Sandberg. The Lord Jesus does live inside me, and I can put Him “on” by faith.
J. I can not serve the Lord Jesus and live my old, sinful life as well. I need to be continually putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, and taking off the flesh at the same time. I denounce the old, sinful habits and take them off. I put Christ on, and imitate Him!
K. In a way, the clothes do make the man. Put him in old dingy clothes and he will have a sloppy attitude. Put him in a suit and he is a different person. Need to change clothes!
L. (Gal 3:27 NIV) for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
M. If I could take a bowl of red dye and put a white cloth into it, then the cloth would be immersed in the dye, but the dye would be in the cloth. There would no longer be a white cloth; there would be a red cloth. The white cloth is in the dye, and the dye is in the cloth. We are in Christ and Christ is in us.
N. Paul connects being baptized into Christ with being clothed with Christ. We are now dressed in the garment of His righteousness! We have a brand new identity in Him. We are saturated with His power and presence.
O. The garment that Christ gives us to wear brings about a behavior that is Christ! This behavior looks the same in all believers. It causes us to have the same character from within. WE all wear the same uniform! It is His character in us!
P. Now if Christians are clothed with Christ, then why is it that so many Christians live as if this is not true? Some can be meaner than a snake. How can people in the body of Christ be so cruel to others? This is what we must understand: believers are dressed inwardly with Christ; He has come to live in us! But for this garment, this behavior, to be seen outwardly by others, then we must live by faith, totally trusting Him and His Word.
Q. Clark Kent when their was trouble would always find a secluded place and take off his shirt and underneath his clothes would be the superman uniform and on the front would be the letter "S." We, like Clark Kent, need to take off the garments of sin and apathy and proudly display our "JC"- Jesus Christ.
Q. The way we received the garment is the same way we put it on- by faith! This is why in Romans 13:14 Paul had to tell Christians to put on the garment. Even though they had put it on inwardly, they needed to learn to put it on outwardly.
R. God gives us a choice to believe the message or not. God allows us the same choice in the way we live. We are either telling the world that we believe or not.
Q. What would Jesus do?
S. We put on the Lord Jesus first by baptism. Second, by allowing the Holy Spirit to develop in us a Christ like character.
