Awake

Awake to Righteousness: Living in the Light of His Coming

Bible Passage: Ro 13:11–14

We will be in Romans 13 this morning if you would please turn there.

Wake up!

It is time to wake up and live ready for Christ’s return. That is my whole sermon today in one sentence. Wake up and live ready for Christ’s return. Well what do you mean? I even got up in time for Sunday school today. Paul is writing to wake up his readers from a state of slumber that we can all find ourselves in. A sort of going through the motions in our faith. If we are honest, sometimes we treat the church as some sort of social club and miss the calling that God has placed on our lives. We forget that this life is not our own. We grow complacent, forgetting the hour we are in. If we want to worship God it is time to wake up and live ready for Christ’s return.

Let’s read

11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ro 13:11–14.

Lets pray

1. Awaken from Apathy

Ro 13:11

Wow. What a sense of urgency.

We just finished our series on the book of Acts. And we saw that on His many journeys, Paul had a passion for teaching the people of God. He had a special love for those who did not have strong jewish roots or apostles to teach them. This gives him an esspecial affinity for Rome. He was a citizen of Rome, and wanted to visit the church in Rome desperately, but it never worked out until late in his ministry. The people there had lost many of its leaders and was isolated from much of the greater community. So Paul wrote this letter. It is rich with doctrine. The first 11 chapters are dripping with truth about sin, man, the gospel, and our Lord Jesus Christ. He moves on to application in chapter 12. In light of all the truth about God, how do we respond. with worship. Not a simple song. But a radical life change. Chapter 12 verse 1 says that we are to present our bodies, our everything as living sacrifices. Paul implores us to use are gifts. To love everyone as Christ did. We love our enemies, and all those who would seek us our the church harm. That is the worship we are called to. If that wasn't enough Paul says we worship by loving one another, submitting to the government wherever possible, and in case we still haven’t gotten it, we are reminded to love one another. This brings us to Chapter 13 verse 11. We are to Awaken from apathy.

And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ro 13:11.

And do this. All those things Paul discussed in chapter 12 and 13. Love one another. Follow after God. Obey His commands. Worship Him. Put your faith into action. Put yourself to death. Be a living sacrifice. These people clearly needed a reminder. Love one another is high calling that we may be quick to gloss over. But dont miss it.

Paul also writes in 1 Corinthians 15:34

Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Co 15:34.

The ESV and the NASB put it “awaken from your drunken slumber”

Paul is writing this to the church in corinth. Christians. It is possible to live this Christian life and be asleep at the wheel. To stumble around with a clouded mind in regards to how one ought to act towards God. A moral drowsiness that thinks O can do what I want because God and I are good. I will relax until he comes back. I will do my duty, go to church at least most sundays. Moral drowsiness becomes spiritual apathy. And our church communities die off.

Early in my time in college I was told I needed to tone down my fervor. I admit I had my times of where I elevated a doctrine too high or was passionate and wrong. But I was meeting with a professor, his name was Don McCall. And he told me to be careful about my expectations. You see for most people, church is not where they find primary community. He used an example of schools. Theres school board meetings, daily practices, weekly games, emails, and sfield trips. Most people are too consumed with other things. All that is fair to expect out of your church members is that they make it to church most Sunday's. The really passionate ones might make it a few Wednesday's. I was not happy after I heard that. But that has rattled around in my head for awhile and I think he has captured the spiritual apathy of the western church well. Would you be satisfied if you did nothing for the Lord the entire week but dragged yourself out of bed on a Sunday morning? That is Spiritual Apathy

As much as I love and support this community, none of these institutions are storming the gates of hell. None of them are Christ’s bride. If we call Jesus Lord, we will put His Bride first. We need to wake up and understand that the time is now.

knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep

This is better read as almost an accusation. For in the Greek it is in the perfect tense. Paul is saying , You know the time. Time here isnt referring to Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. make sure you do your good deed for the day. He’s referring to these days we find ourselves in. This season or age. Well what do we know about these days? Ephesians 5:11-16 tells us

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” 15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Eph 5:11–16.

We live in an age of wickedness. Dark days where we put our hope in fallible and corrupt man. We live in these days. Do not live for this age. But wake up. Live differently because of the time.

Paul continues in verse 11

for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed

Now this may be a little confusing on the surface. Don’t panic. The Scripture talks about our salvation in three ways. We were saved in the past. When Jesus died, when you put your faith in him, you are bought. You are secure. There is no losing that. But none of us have been made to be perfect yet. Therefore we are presently being saved. That is what we mean by sanctification. You and I are growing and looking more like Christ every day. And lastly, we will be saved in the last day. We have confidence in our future. Jesus wins and we have an eternity to live with Him. Our salvation will be secure.

Every day. Every breath you take is one moment closer to being face to face with your God. Either He will return here or you will go to him, but it is close my friend. We live in a culture that is continually pushing things off. People are getting married later, starting bussinesses, having kids, moving out. Responisibility is pushed off further and further. Are you doing this in your Christian walk?

Do you remember the sound of your parent’s car pulling in the driveway? For some of us it is a longer time to have to recall than others. They gave you a list of chores to do and you know they aren’t done. But that distinct sound spurs you to action. You know you have exactly 37 and a half seconds to at least look like they caught you in the middle of working. My friend Jesus is coming soon. Wake up. He is coming back to bring an end to all wickedness. To usher in the final itteration of His kingdom in all glory. Awake from your apathy.

2. Adopt Armor of Light

Ro 13:12

What do we do after we wake up? Well we have to get dressed. Verse 11 spurs us on while verses 12-14 equip us. We awake from apathy and then we adopt armor of light. Look at Romans 13:12

The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ro 13:12.

Paul does not want us to have any misgivings about our present situation. We are not yet dressed in our victory garments. Instead we must put on armor.

For the night is nearly over. day is nearly here. I do not have to convince you that this world is still filled with pain and hurt. Tragedy still touches each and every one of our lives. We war against sin again and again again. Evil forces rage knowing that their battle has already been lost. But take heart my friend. As we see the sun rising we know that the Son is risen. death and evil have met their match. My sin, all of it, has been nailed to the cross and I am free. I have hope. I can have joy. The night is far spent. But the day of Christ is at hand

RC Sproul puts it this way “ The kingdom of God has begun. The hour is growing late. Paul frequently calls us to redeem the time because the days are evil. There is still evil in this world, there is still struggle in this world, and there is still some participation that each of us must endure in the night. But the night is growing into the dawn. We have already caught a glimpse of the Sun of righteousness who comes with healing in his wings. Christ has appeared; Christ has purchased our salvation; Christ has promised us a future inheritance in his kingdom. So the full dawn of day has not yet broken through, but we are, as it were, able to see the horizon and see the beginning edges of the sun come up for the dawn.”

R. C. Sproul, The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 1994

You see, Eschatology drives ethics. If we remember this future hope, we will live differently

Its time to wake up. And its time to get dressed.

When you get dressed you often have to take something off first. These deeds of darkness are evil and sin. This old nature unfortunately does not leave us completely at salvation. But it sticks around trying to call us back.

Paul writes, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Co 6:9–11.

Such were some of you. Perhaps there is a sin on that list that you have been able to kill Perhaps there is another that you have to kill. That you must make the daily decision to take off. Cast it off. Throw it away. I have a plack that sits on my desk that quotes Jonathan Edwards, Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you. What do you need to take off.

I want you to think for a moment and ask yourself, when is the last time that I woke up and asked what I needed to put on to be ready to live out my faith. Am I ready today for Christ’s return today? Is my neighbor? Is my family? My community? If you aren’t asking these things, then you need to wake up

This word for armor is rather interesting in the greek. Its translated many different ways, Sometimes as spear, or arrows, vessel, shield, armor. The word is hoplon. If you are a student of ancient history, that sounds like a hoplite, or a skilled greek soldier. These were more than your common millitia. But these men had real armor. Typically they would carry large sheilds that could cover most of their body and be useful in a formation. They would likely carry with them more than one weapon at a time. B ut they would also cast off any piece of clothing that they would not need in order to move quickly. These were men were ready for war.

In the same way, the Christian must be armed with what they need to fight in this evil age. Cast off these wicked things and put on the armor of light. Well What is the armor of light? Ephesians 6 gives us an answer. Listen well the the grandness of it all.

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Eph 6:10–20.

Paul does not leave us wondering to the makeup of our armor. Each peice is essential and guards against a different threat. Holding it all up is the belt of truth. God’s word wraps it all together. Helmet of salvation to guard our minds from fears and doubt. A Sword of truth or rigteousneoues. By the truth we dismantle strongholds. By the word of God we conquor. This is your armor. This is your weapon. Cast aside all else.

Awake from apathy. Adopt the Armor of light. Now we need to advance in virtuous action. Romans 13:13 says

3. Advance in Virtuous Action

Ro 13:13

13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy

We find ourselves in an odd time. The battle has been won. But night is not over yet.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Jn 3:19.

The light is on the horizon, but men love the darkness. It cannot be so of us. We must wear that armor. Peter describes us this way, 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Pe 2:9.

We are chosen, royal, special, and holy. And this nation of priests is armed to the teeth and dressed in their armor of light. That is what it means to wake up and get dressed. To live a righteous life. Though we find ourselves in the time of night we cannot live this way. We talked through a list earlier of this behavior. Paul lays out a few here. It is by no means exhaustive but it gives us a pretty good idea of what to cast off.

Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy

revelry and drunkeness. Or your translation mught say orgies and drunkeness. These two concepts seem to go together, certainly in our culture today. Sexual promiscuity is often connected to drug abuse. Man turnes their bodies over to all sorts of vices to try and cope or numb the pain. Paul is saying here that we don’t need this. It is not true of us.We dont need to dull our senses, we need to wake up.

Not in lewdness and lust. Lust here is more general. It is the pursuit of anything in excess that feels good to the body. And Paul closes these pairs with something that doesn’t seem to fit with the others. Strife and envy. Or quarreling and jealousy.

Theres two place I want to go with this. First, Paul considers attitudes to be just as important as action. Hatred leads to murder. Lust leads to adultery. so jealosy leads to strife. When Christ returns, He wants to find his people clean on both the outside and the inside. The second point is this. If the devil cannot get you drunk, whether litterally or just asleep to the things of God. If he cannot get you to chase after immorallity. He will get you to be divided.

Im not drunk. Im not lusting. But are you divisive in the body? it ought not be so. These things will not happen if we wake up and wear the armor of light. Apathy can be just as divisive. Its subtle. Insideeous, but it tii can crumble any great movement

My friends. Awaken from apathy. Adopt the Armor of light. Advance in Virtuous Action. And lastly Attire with Christ’s presence.

4. Attire with Christ’s Presence

Ro 13:14

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

IN LIGHT OF ALL THESE THINGS IT IS TIME TO TO PUT ON CHRSIT. But wait, I thought I already put on Christ. Look at Galatioans 3

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ga 3:26–27.

Let me be clear. At the moment of salvation, ypu put on Christ, in the legal sense. You traded your filth for his rightouesness. You will be declared not guilty on judgement day. Paul here must be referring to something different, something more practical. Now it is time to live it out. To act like Jesus. Collossians 3 says

3 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Col 3:1–10.

You need to put on Jesus beyond the legal sense. Take off the old man and put on the new. Cloth yopurselves in Christlikeness. Do the things that Christ would do. Live the way he would live.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

No provision. Provision here is frankly just a lacking translation. Instead it is better to think of foresight. Do not put any thought to hpw ypu will feed into ypur sinful desire. Do not feed it. Starve it out. Do not do anything to feed it. Often we wonder why we stumble. As if we have not been walking around a minefield all day. It may ne hard to advert your eyes if you always find yourself in that part of town. It may be impossible to think rightoeusly if all you consume is filth. Garbage in garbage out reigns true. What you watch and listen to changes you. What are we to do? make no provision for it. Just dont go there. Make radicall choices now to save yourself later. If your tv causes you to sin, throw it out. If your cell phone causes you to waste hours and hours or go to those sites you know you shouldnt then get rid of it. But a dumb phonel Get a landline. That may sound radicall. But remember what Jesus’s words were to those in ongoing sin. Jesus I have a lust proble,. Pluck out your eye, cut off your hand. Now I believe he was being hyperbolic. But the point remains. Kill your sin. Or it will be killing you. Make no provision.

I want to be careful here. This is not a message about do better

We need christ.

Stop pursuing wicked things. Put on Christ likeness.

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Php 4:8–9.

What are we to do instead? think and dwell upon what is good. Less Netflix and fox news and more Bible and prayer. Feed on truth and not lies. Spend less time going here and there and more time with God’s people. Prioritize those things that the church has provided fir discipleship and fellowship.

 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

My friends wake up. The final day is coming. Today might be the day Jesus comes back, or it could be your last day. Wake up. Start living worthy of this Holy calling. Do not fall for this terror and fear that the world clamors at. Imagine the absolute dread if Christ came back today and you have not been living for him. To look your savior in the face and say I meant to get to it. Or you know I just wanted to rest in my later years. We are responsible for being ready. We are responible to make sure that those around us are ready. God put you here for a reason at this time. We will close with this parable from Luke,

16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Lk 12:16–21.

Does this describe you and me? May it not be so. Let us not persue after many good things and be asleep to what matters. Wake up from your apathy. Adopt Armor of light. Advance with virtuous action. And Attire with Christ.

Maybe you are here today and you have never woken up You have never started that relationship with God. Well good news. Today is the day. With eyes closed and no one looking around. I want you to truly examine your heart. Have you been asleep to the things of God? Have you been chasing after the things of this world? Repent. God’s kingdom is here and His judgement is on the horizen. Yet God is offering forgiveness. All it takes is putting your faith in Jesus alone for salvation. Trusting in Jesus’ perfect life and his death in your place to restore your relationship with God. If you would like to know more. If you are wrestling with this just raise your hand. No one is looking. I want to pray for you.

You can open your eyes. Chrsitian. Have you been asleep? wake up. maybe you have been holding on tightly to a vice. Today is the day to give it up. Reprioritize your life to show that you love the things of God.

24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,

And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise,

Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power,Both now and forever.

Amen.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Jud 24–25.