Stop Burning Daylight
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Introduction
We have all known what it is like to wake up and go to work.
We know to do this we wake up, cast off the bed clothes, and put on the proper clothes for work.
We get up and get moving.
We do not burn daylight but go to it.
Just as the scene in the John Wayne movie “The Cowboys” when Wil Andersen, John Wayne’s character, wakes the boys on the drive and tells them “we’re burning daylight,” and one boy wakes and says “I only see stars.”
We may only see stars right now, but the Son is coming and when He does all will be lit up.
We have no excuse and must begin to walk in His ways.
Like this story
It is important to be aware of the time, not losing our focus, not becoming slack, not forgetting how fleeting time can be.
A man had a checkup and then went in to see his doctor to get the results. The doctor said he had bad news and worse news for him, which did he want to hear first? The man was [at a loss] and said he’d rather hear the bad news first. The doctor said, “The bad news is that you only have twenty-four hours to live.”
At this the man jumped up, totally flabbergasted and distraught. He paced the doctor’s office and complained, “Twenty-four hours to live? I can’t possibly get my affairs in order that quickly. I can’t believe this, it is incredible! What could be worse news than this?”
The doctor said, “The worse news is that I was supposed to tell you this yesterday but I forgot.”
There is no room—and no excuse—for daydreaming or negligence on the part of the believer. Eternity is at stake; therefore, every minute counts! (Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Practical Illustrations: Romans, 94–95).
Time is near and we must follow what Paul says in this section of Scripture.
Let us read the Word of God from Romans 13:11-14
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
The Time is known.
We must wake up.
Salvation, the return of Christ is nearer now than before.
The night is gone, the day is at hand.
Walk properly not as in the night but properly. Be sober and aware.
Clothe yourself in the Lord Christ and walk in Him.
These are what we must do. We must follow Christ.
We can do this because we have Christ.
You that are saved have Christ.
You have the power to walk in Him.
You can do this and we can make a difference church.
But first we must follow the four step principle Paul delivers to us.
Wake Up
Wake Up
We know the times we are living in.
They are sinful and evil.
Everywhere we look is evil and many times it is evil disguised as good.
People are against the good and all for the bad.
We are certainly living in horrible sinful times.
We must be vigilant and alert.
Peter said we must 1 Pet. 5:8
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Stop sitting back and saying nothing.
Stop sitting back complaining without actively seeking change.
We all complain about the government and the politics of this nation.
We see the atrocities and throw fits, but then just sit on our chairs and complain more.
We tolerate sin too much making excuses for sin.
We do this by saying things like “they made a mistake, they had an affair, they are living together, they are not all that bad.”
When we should say they sinned, this person has committed sexual immorality, they defiled the marriage bed, they have sinned and need Jesus.
Waking up means opening your eyes and looking at what is happening.
It means we see clearly what is going on and we know it is happening and that it is wrong and against God.
We need to go back and be as we were when we first believed.
At the beginning we were on fire we were saved and we wanted all to know.
We worked for the Lord tirelessly.
Let us be that way even more so now because the time is closer now than before.
We are getting close to Christ’s return.
The world is groaning and groaning against the evils in it.
Oh for that time to come but until then we must be awake and
Cast Off Darkness
Cast Off Darkness
The night is this present evil time. The day is the return of Christ.
Cast off the darkness get up, basically.
Cast aside the ways of the night and the evil and get up and get moving.
Just as those boys in the Cowboys had to get up and get to it, we must get up and get to it.
Too many Christians today want to hang out in the darkness and claim to be of the light.
They want to hang over there in what they say is fun and also have Christ.
Paul is telling us right here to cast that off and get to the Lord.
Put on the armor of light means we put on the goodness of God and be a light.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
We must shine so bright that the darkness flees.
We must shine so bright that the world sees.
We must shine so bright that evil is afraid.
Stop standing in the darkness and saying you are of the light.
D.L. Moody described what the proper attitude of the believer should be toward sin:
There is nothing the world needs more than holy Christians. The cause of Christ is paralyzed because of sin—sin in believers. The natural [earthly] man will always take sides against God when you press him closely and say, “God isn’t going to punish sin. He wouldn’t do this or that.” But the new [spiritual] man ought always to justify God and take sides with Him against sin. There ought to be that difference between God’s children and the children of the world. When people say the punishment is severe and unjust, we should side with God and say, “Shall not he Judge of all the earth do right?” We should all condemn sin as God condemns it, the moment we see it in ourselves. It may be some hidden sin that keeps God from using us more.
Too often our actions betray our profession of faith. And too often we cringe inside at the Spirit’s correction, putting the subject of conviction off until a later time. As believers, we must not allow such “conveniences.” It is time to walk straight before a holy God. It is time for a good honest look in the mirror of God’s Word. (Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 84–85).
Our actions too often betray who we are.
We must cast that off and live for the Lord.
We must act like who we are.
We are Christians, little Christ’s.
We are His and as His we can behave this way because He is inside you working in you to do His good will and pleasure. He is working in and around us we must just embrace that an walk properly before Him and others.
People will see how we act.
People are watching.
I have read of too many pastors falling into sexual sin.
Too many believers still follow these dark and deadly paths.
But it is not only the sexual and the drunken paths that are wrong paths.
No, jealousy and quarreling are just as bad.
There is too much division and dissension in the body of Christ.
We are divided on too many things. We will fight at the drop of and attack and cut down a fellow believer because they are not like us.
Why? Because we are following the path of Satan and not the path of light.
We are still hung up over in the darkness thinking we are in the light.
We may be saved but we are walking in the darkness and stumbling along.
We become bitter and angry.
We attack others because they have broken our law and not God’s law.
We are mad and want revenge.
We are nothing more than a bunch of little kids when we behave this way.
That is why in the previous chapter of this book Paul tells us Rom. 12:1-2
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Be transformed and be able to discern the will of God.
God’s will is that Rom. 13:8-9
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
We must love each other and act as we are on together.
We can do this through the Spirit in us.
We can do this from seeking the Lord and loving one another.
We can do this by not going to the bar, watching that film, cussing out that person, slandering another behind their back, spreading rumors, but going to the source, seeking to find the truth before speaking.
All of this is walking properly and Rom. 13:10 “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
When we do this we are not jealous or quarreling but seeking to live as Christ because we have cast off the darkness and are walking properly.
But to do all of this we must...
Put On Christ
Put On Christ
Just like we get dressed in the morning for the day, we must clothe ourselves with Christ.
When it is hot outside you do not wear a coat.
When it is cold you don’t wear sleeveless shirts and shorts.
We dress appropriately for the day.
This is what we must do this with our daily lives.
Be clothed in Christ and you will not make provision for the flesh.
How do we Put on Christ?
First, we make it known we are identified as His. This may include baptism but it certainly includes us being bold about being a Christian.
Yes, this may cause some friends to walk away from you. It may cause people to look at you funny. It may even cause you to lose your job.
All of this is worth it because you are boldly claiming Christ.
Second, we act how Jesus acted the best we can. We are humble, loving, truthful, and we serve others.
We imitate Jesus and His disciples the best we can. When we do this we will be ready to stop our desires from leading us into sin. We will not give heed to the opportunities to follow the darkness. We will shut the door on sexual immorality.
We will stop jealousy and quarrels before they start.
Third, we get into His Word. We pray to Him. We spend time in His presence and get our minds so full of Him that when things happen, we behave as Christ would.
It is not a What Would Jesus Do but a What Did Jesus Do and that is what we do.
Fourth, we train our minds to follow the desires of God and not our fleshly desires.
We give ourselves so over to the Lord that when we see something that once was desirous to us and it sickens us.
We are full of the Lord and we behave that way.
We do as the author of Hebrews said Heb. 12:1-2
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
These witnesses he wrote of are those we find throughout Scripture, those faithful followers of Christ in our lives now.
But the main point is that we lay aside the weight of sin and run to Christ.
Stop running to the bottle.
Stop running to pornography.
Stop running to drugs.
Stop running to the next man or woman.
Stop running to sin and run from sin into the Saviors awaiting arms.
He is here and wants you to follow Him.
He has borne the weight of the penalty of sin for you.
Why do we want to continue in that life and behave that way?
Lay that all aside and cling tightly to the one who has given all for you and who will carry you through.
We all need strength.
We all need help to fight sin.
We have that help in Jesus Christ.
Lean into Him and live in the light because the light exposes all sorts of sin.
If the light is on it is hard to hide sin.
If the light is on it is hard to hide the monsters.
If the light is shining brightly on you all will be seen and exposed.
As uncomfortable as this may be, it is what will keep us on the path.
Remember Psalm 119:105
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Walk in that light and keep on the path.
This world is dark enough without us Christians behaving like the darkness.
Be a light and let the light shine.
Application/Conclusion
Think of life like this here.
The way of sin eventually leads a person to ignore God’s guidance completely. The great tragedy is that those in a totally depraved state really believe they understand where they are going and what they are doing.
In Plato’s Republic there is a story of a ship’s crew who decided their captain was [insane] because he took observations from the stars. The sailors reasoned that a ship sails on the sea and that winds, currents, and tides are the important points of identification. So they locked up their captain in the hold of the vessel and sailed on to shipwreck.
“When our points of reference are limited to … self and the immediate world, we court disaster.” (Practical Illustrations: Romans (7-120: Sailing toward Disaster (Depravity).
How do we avoid this type of living?
We ask ourselves several questions that I ask you now.
• Does God’s love fill me?
• Am I serving others the way Jesus did?
• Am I saying no to my improper desire?
• Can I think of specific examples in each of these categories:
– whatever is true
– whatever is noble
– whatever is right
– whatever is pure
– whatever is lovely
– whatever is admirable (see Philippians 4:8)
(Barton, Veerman, and Wilson, Romans, Life Application Bible Commentary ), 258.
As long as we are wrapped up in Christ, we will find it difficult to gratify our sinful desires.
Our objective should be to see Christ clearly, so that our sinful desires fade from view.
Think today and everyday moving forward about
whatever is true
whatever is noble
whatever is right
whatever is pure
whatever is lovely
whatever is admirable
and you will Wake Up, Cast off the Darkness, and Put on Jesus Christ.
When we do this we will be an unstoppable force for the Lord.
We are the most powerful Creation on the planet because we have the Holy Spirit in us and with Him in us we have the power of the triune God inside us.
Go forth Christian and charge this world knowing you are armed with the ultimate weapon.
You are in victory fighting from a place of victory.
Stand firm and fight the good fight and run the race and receive the crown of righteousness that is laid up for those who love the Lord and His appearing.
Be the light and shine bright and if you are outside of the light, I invite you now to come into the light.
Christ died for you and He will save you from this evilness and deliver you into an eternal glory.
You will be His and you will have everlasting life now if you believe in Him for that.
If you already have and have slid away, He stands ever ready to welcome you back.
He is for you and will restore you.
No sin is to great or small, Jesus died for them all.
Just come to Him and receive His grace over and over He truly is a gracious God and savior.