Romans 13:8-14
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
1-7 Paul taught us how to view governmental authorities submitting to them as long as they were obeying and submitting to God under Jesus
He did this under the context of living in relation to our enemies (12:14-21)
Even saying that not only taxes to our governments but paying everyone all that’s owed to them:
Romans 13:6–7 “6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.”
Paul is about to teach us to look at the present in light of the past (8-10) and to look at the present in light of the future (11-14) and use that idea of giving everyone all they are owed to teach us how to live
Love
Love
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 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 neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
8: Owe no man anything
8: but to love one another
but is except: pay off all your debts to all men (cars, houses, governments.
to your Christian brothers pay off all your debts except love. We are called to love every but not only brother and sister in Christ as we love ourselves
8: fulfilled: Paul isn’t saying “love” replaces the law. He sums up this idea in 9 and 10
9: for this: Paul is saying the following commandments (seventh, sixth, eighth, and tenth from Ex 20:1-17 and Deut 5:6-21, (and any other commandment (immediately toward other men [5-10 of the 10 commandments] and reflectively toward God [1-4])
9: “briefly comprehended in”: are all summed up in
Leviticus 19:18 “18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.”
Matthew 22:34–40 “34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
10: “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor”: If we are loving EVERY but not ONLY brother and sister in Christ there is no world that exists where we would do any of the things he just said
10: therefore: This is what Paul means that love fulfills the law
not replaces the law but the law teaches us love. Leads us to 2 truths:
1: The world tries to say as long as there’s love, a person can do anything they want to do. 2 men or women can profane the covenant of marriage because they “love each other”. This isn’t real love.
2: The true image and source of real love is Jesus Christ who is the only one to have kept the law perfectly
Owing our brothers and sisters a never ending debt of love is a debt impossible for us to pay. Even for a Spirit filled, close follower of Jesus, we fail and fall because of our humanity and Adam nature so we have no hope in ourselves of meeting the requirements to be justified saved.
So if Jesus was the only one to have been able to fulfill the law, and it’s impossible for us to do any of this completely by our intentions or actions; what hope do we have?
Live in Light of the Time to Come and How to Do It
Live in Light of the Time to Come and How to Do It
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
11: “And that”: do this. The “this Paul is referring to is not just the love command in 1-7 but the full body of how he’s told us to live from 12:1 through 13:10
11: “knowing the time”: Christians should always be aware of “what time it is” not just in the context of when Jesus is coming back, but in everything around us. Bible says we are to be “Sons of Issachar”:
1 Chronicles 12:32 “32 And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.”
They understood not just the prophesies of God but the enemies of God and the battles in front of God’s people
11: “high time to awake”: don’t be lazy and lay in bed all day. Get up! and get to work
11: “salvation is nearer”:
Paul has told us we are to live as part of a new reality brought forth by Jesus with His birth, death, and resurrection:
Romans 12:1–2 “1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
But while by God’s grace the Christian now lives in a new reality, it’s not the final reality. We have been saved, but our full and final salvation is yet to come:
Romans 5:9–10 “9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
12: “night is far spent, the day is at hand”: Don’t think of this ONLY as Jesus coming in the next few minutes. But the certainty of Jesus comin. Whether 30 seconds or 30,000 years, get to work and be found with sword and trowel in hand! Doesn’t matter if we are found when we die and Jesus takes us home or He comes back and we go with him to Heaven!
12: “cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light”: We are to carry on warfare for the Lord both against the enemies of God beginning with the princes and principalities of this world and also with our flesh. Warring with the flesh is the hardest part of walking in the light. We love ourselves more than anyone else and our flesh loves pleasure and feeling good. So what does this mean and how do we do it?
13: “honestly”: we are to walk decently, morally upright and reflecting the holiness of the One who’s given us life!
we are more likely to stumble during the night so walk carefully as during the day
13: “rioting and drunkeness”: excessive feasting and bouts of excessive drinking of alcohol
13: “chambering and wantonness”: sexual promiscuity and licentiousness (all of the disordered sexual perversions that distort God’s purpose for sex meant to be husbands with wives;
13: “strife and envying”: always rise from and are multiplied in the sins mentioned before; Paul will talk more about these in the following chapters
14: “put ye on the Lord”: How do we successfully deny the flesh? The only way is to put off the old man and constantly remind ourselves we are no longer slaves of sin and the flesh but we are slaves of Christ. We are not to be dominated by the desires of the flesh but we are to be dominated by the desires of Christ given to us in scripture. This is the how and the only ability to “walk decently” Paul told us to do in verse 13
Conclusion
Conclusion
After the fall, the world and humanity has an almost completely disordered and distorted view of what love is and what it means to love and be loved
The Christian (the saved man or woman) MUST love every other Christian as much as we love ourselves!
1 John 5:1–4 “1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
That complete and consistent loving of others remains an impossibility in ourselves
Be humble: Psalm 25:9 “9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.”
Realize Christ is the only way: John 15:5 “5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
A person that’s not a Christian has no hope of heaven or of even walking in a way pleasing to God: Romans 8:8 “8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
The Good news though, Romans 5:8 “8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Putting your faith in Christ Romans 10:10 “10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
can lead to Romans 5:1 “1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”