Get In A Hurry - The Urgency Of Now

The Urgency Of Now

Romans 13:11-14.

“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.”

Introduction

If you have been signing on to the virtual bible studies the past two or three weeks you know we have been talking about “Taking Off and Putting On”. And if you remember preaching about Self Denial last month you will begin to see a a seriousness or urgency for us to take off what displeases God and putting on what pleases Him.

As I was about to prepare to write today’s message, I asked the Lord what He wanted me to tell you all today. He answered and said; “Get in a hurry. Tell them the urgency is now. Tell them to latch on to me now!”

At first I thought this was steering me away from what we’ve been talking about over the past few weeks. But as I searched the scriptures, I came across Romans 13:11-14, and I noticed this would take us deeper into what we’ve heard so far.

I thank God for guiding us toward perfection through His Holy Spirit.

Wake Up Salvation Is Near

Wake up! Time is running out! The end of time is closer than it was yesterday, last week, last month, years ago.

Sleep in this context means to be spiritually unaware or unconcerned.

The cares of the world has rocked some of us into a dangerous deep sleep.

Cast Off The Works of Darkness

Galatians 5 gives us a list of what to take off and put on:

Take off the works of darkness, the works of the flesh. Adultery, fornication, idolatry, witchcraft, envy, drukneness, murders, etc.

Put on the Armor of Light, fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.

When we put on the Spirit of Jesus we are no longer associated with darkness because Jesus is the light, our armor of light.

Make No Provision For The Flesh

When we tell God yes, we’re telling our flesh no.

Our flesh tells us to get even, the Holy Spirit tells us vengeance belongs to God.

Our flesh tells us to commit immoral sex acts (adultery, fornication, same sex relationships). The Holy Spirit tells us to flee from fornication.

Our flesh tells us to lie, the Holy Spirit tells us to speak the truth and speak it in love.

Our flesh tells us to connect ourselves with worldly people and things. The Holy Spirit tells us to come out from among them and don’t touch anything unclean.

Application

Don’t be consumed by the activities we have to take on that we forget to spend time with the things of God and His kingdom.

Spend time in prayer, asking what the Lord wants from you.

Spend time doing what Jesus would do in the situations you face daily.

Conclusion/Exhortation

We have spent too much time on things that don’t glorify God or contributes to the advancement of His Kingdom.

We have spent too much time in spiritual slumber!

It’s not good to rush into worldly things. It will benefit us to rush into the things of God. GET IN A HURRY