We are living on the edge of eternity, so how ought we to live? We need to lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the Lord Jesus Christ!
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Living On The Edge Of Eternity
Romans 13:8-14
Great men of God who have made a mark on their generation for Jesus Christ have been men that lived as though at any moment they could be ushered into eternity. You see this clearly when you read their writings.
The Puritan, Richard Baxter, used to say, “I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men!”
John Wesley used to cry, “Were I to let any soul drop into the pit whom I might have saved from everlasting burnings, I am not satisfied God would accept my plea, ‘Lord, he was not in my parish.”
Leonard Ravenhill made it his constant prayer, “Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.”
All of these men of God had this one thing in common – they all felt the awesome seriousness of eternity. They were all gripped by the fact that eternity may be only a second away. They may have only one more breath; therefore they must make their lives count while they still have opportunity.
In our text this morning the apostle Paul is urging the same thing upon us. He tells us that we are living on the edge of eternity. Then he tells us how we should live in light of that sobering reality. There are certain things we must lay aside, and certain other things we must put on.
This morning let’s approach our text like this:
- What is the Time in which We Live?
- What Must We Lay Aside?
- What Must We Put On?
1. What Is The Time In Which We Live?
Do this, knowing the time. Do what? Discharge your debt of love to everyone. God has commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Therefore, do this. Love all people. But as you do, you need to know the time.
We are to know the time. But, what time was Paul talking about?
Time when salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. What is Paul talking about? Doesn’t he know that the people he is writing to are already saved? Of course he does. He refers to them as “the called of Jesus Christ” (1:6), and “all who are beloved of God in Rome” (1:7), and “called as saints” (1:7). Why then, would he say their salvation is nearer than when they believed? Biblically, you can look at salvation in three tenses: past, present, and future.
Past. We have been saved. Eph. 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” We call this justification.
Present. We are being saved. 1 Cor. 15:1-2 (lit.), “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are being saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.” We call this sanctification.
Future. We will be saved. 1 Peter 1:5, “who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” We call this glorification.
We have been saved from the penalty of sin. We are being saved from the power of sin. We will be saved from the presence of sin.
Paul is talking here about the third sense. Here he is talking about salvation in the future, complete sense. He is talking about the consummation of our salvation when Christ returns, our bodies are glorified, and we will be freed from sinning any more.
Time when the night is almost gone and the day is at hand. What does Paul mean by this? Well, we can get some help from something Jesus said in John 9:4-5, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” “As long as it is day” is parallel to “while I am in the world.” Night would be the time when Jesus is absent from the world. So, when Paul said the night is almost gone and the day is at hand, he must be saying that up until now you have lived in this world where Christ is absent, and where Satan is the ruler of the world. But there is coming a time very soon when Jesus will be physically present with you. The night is a time of darkness – a time in which the darkness of sin and sorrow and Satan hold a powerful sway. But the Day is at hand – a time of radiant light, holiness, joy, and knowledge.
Time to awaken from sleep. Paul is writing to Christians, saints, and telling them they need to wake up! It is true, that Christians can be asleep. The unsaved are dead in their trespasses and sins, and some believers are asleep. You can hardly tell the difference between someone who is sleeping and someone who is dead. Outwardly, they look very similar. And, sadly, sometimes Christians look very much like the people of this world. Sometimes it is difficult to tell them apart.
Arthur Pink wrote of this very thing in his book, Practical Christianity. “What an absurdity! Dozing on the verge of eternity! A Christian is one who, in contrast to the unregenerate, has been awakened from the sleep of death in trespasses and sins, made to realize the unspeakable awfulness of endless misery in hell and the ineffable joy of everlasting bliss in heaven, and thereby brought to recognize the seriousness and solemnity of life. A Christian is one who has been taught experientially the worthlessness of all mundane things and the preciousness of Divine things. He has turned his back on Vanity Fair and has started out on his journey to the Celestial City. He has been quickened into newness of life and supplied with the most powerful incentives to press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Nevertheless, it is sadly possible for him to suffer a relapse, for his zeal to abate, his graces to languish, for him to leave his first love, and become weary in well-doing. Yea, unless he be very much on his guard, drowsiness will steal over him, and he will fall asleep. Corruptions still indwell in him, and sin has a stupefying effect. He is yet in this evil world, and it exerts a devitalizing influence. Satan seeks to devour him, and unless resisted steadfastly will hypnotize him. Thus, the menace of this spiritual ‘sleeping sickness’ is very real. Slumbering saints! What an incongruity! Taking their ease while threatened by danger. Lazing instead of fighting the good fight of faith. Trifling away opportunities to glorify their Savior, instead of redeeming the time; rusting, instead of wearing out in His service.”
Brothers and sisters, we are living on the edge of eternity. Christ could return at any time, and we could die and enter eternity at any time. How should we then live? Paul tells us how. He tells us that there are things we must lay aside, and other things we must put on.
2. What Must We Lay Aside?
The deeds of darkness. Paul gives us a sampling of these deeds of darkness in three pairs – carousing and drunkenness, sexual promiscuity and sensuality, and strife and jealousy. Then he caps the discussion off with this concluding statement, “but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” So, deeds of darkness have to do with substance abuse, sexual sin, and inward sins of the mind. And Paul refers to all of this as the lusts of the flesh.
Lay aside. What kinds of things do we lay aside and put on. Clothes! The Christian is responsible to take off his filthy garments of sin in all its fleshly forms. He is then to put on different garments – the armor of light – the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody wears pajamas to work, or wears old, dirty, clothes full of holes to a fancy dinner part. It is inappropriate! We would be embarrassed. So too, we need to take off the clothes of sinful practices now. They are totally inappropriate for a child of God!
Carousing and drunkenness. Carousing is talking about partying. We would say that guy is a party animal. He loves to carouse. Drunkenness, by extension, would include abusing drugs or alcohol.
Sexual promiscuity and sensuality. This is the kind of thing that happens when people spend their time partying, drinking, and doing drugs. They become sexually promiscuous. They sleep around. They break off all restraints, and do what feels good, regardless of whether it is sin. So, they engage in fornication and adultery.
Strife and jealousy. Now, Paul goes from outward sins of the flesh, to inward sins of the mind. When you have more than one person in a group, and each person wants to have the praise and attention and focus of the others, there is bound to be strife and jealousy.
Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. If you have a problem being disciplined with alcohol, don’t make plans to hang out with your old party buddies. If you have a problem keeping yourself pure sexually, don’t visit your girlfriend alone in her apartment. If you have a problem overeating, don’t make plans to go out and buy a carton of chocolate ice cream after church. Don’t make provision for these lusts of the flesh. Instead cut off all provisions. Be like an army that besieges a city, digs a trench around it, and camps out. They have effectively cut off the enemy from getting provisions, seeking to starve them out. In fact, that was the plan of the Romans when they destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. We too, must starve our flesh. Cut off all provisions to it. Don’t give it an inch, or it will take a mile and seek to control you.
3. What Must We Put On?
The Armor of Light. If we are supposed to put on the armor light, this is another indication that we should be thinking of ourselves as soldiers of Christ. We are in a war with the Prince of darkness. And, because we are soldiers, we need to put on armor. But, just what is that armor we are to put on. Well, the closest parallel to Romans 13:11-14 is 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8. Let’s look at that text:
1 Thessalonians 5:4-8, “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 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.”
Now, there are a lot of parallels between these two passages:
- Both exhort us not to sleep
- Both speak of night and darkness, and day and light
- Both mention getting drunk
- Both mention armor
So, what is the armor Paul is describing in 1 Thessalonians 5? It is faith, hope, and love. Interestingly, these are the same three graces that Paul says abide in 1 Corinthians 13.
Paul calls this armor, “the armor of light.” Why? Well, because light belongs to the day, and this armor is for those who are sons of light and sons of day – Christians.
The Lord Jesus Christ. But Paul also tells us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. I take that to mean that when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are putting on the armor of light. Faith, hope, and love all relate to Jesus. How so?
The faith we have is faith in the Lord Jesus. The hope we have is hope in the Lord Jesus. The love we have is love for the Lord Jesus. And that is the armor we wear when we do battle with sin. It is faith, hope, and love that will help us to achieve victory over the kingdom of darkness.
We need to have faith in Christ; we need to believe that Jesus is more satisfying that this sin. We need to have hope in Christ; we need to have the future expectation that Jesus will be more for us throughout eternity, than this sin will be for us now. We need to have love for Christ. We need to love Jesus enough that it moves us to obey His commandments.
Conclusion
As I draw this message to a close, I want you to notice one thing.
Paul does not just tell us to lay aside the deeds of darkness. He does do that, but that’s not all he does. He also exhorts us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? I believe it is because the way we lay aside the deeds of darkness is by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.
In other words, Paul doesn’t just say, “stop sinning, stop sinning, stop sinning!” He does tell us to stop sinning, but he also tells us to put on Christ.
When you are confronted with temptation you should say “No!” to sin. But that’s not all you should do. You should also say “Yes!” to Jesus. What’s the difference? When we say “No! No! No!” to sin, we usually end of failing. Why? Because we are drawing on our own strength and focusing on sin and temptation. But when we say, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” to Jesus, we focus on Him and draw on His strength.
I know this might just seem like semantics, but I challenge you to try it. The next time you are confronted to do evil, say “Yes Lord! I will do Your will. Strengthen me and empower me right now as I turn to You to do Your will.”
Bridge Church, you are living on the razor edge of eternity. Some among us may have passed out of this life into the next in the next 12 months. Therefore, wake up! Stop sleeping. Stop acting and looking like the rest of the world. Stop being preoccupied with the same things the rest of the world is preoccupied with – drinking, using drugs, partying, sleeping around, striving to be number one, being jealous of those who are more prominent than you. Those are all deeds of darkness.
Instead, put on the armor of light. Let faith in Christ, hope in Christ, and love for Christ mark your life! When someone looks at you, they should see Jesus. They should see His character. They should see His Spirit. They should see His lifestyle.
Fernando wrote a song a while back. Here are the lyrics:
“Jesus, be Jesus in me. No longer me but Thee.
Resurrection Power, fill me this hour. Jesus, be Jesus in me.”
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