We’re in a topical yet expositional series on prophecy. We’re going across several topics, but we are rooting every topic in a text. The last two weeks we looked at Revelation 1:1–3 and the subject “Educating for the Future”¬—the importance of prophecy. And today we’re looking at Romans 13:11–14, a message I’ve called “It’s Late.” We’re looking at the fact that we are living to see prophetic fulfillment. We’re living to see the events described in Matthew 24–25 begin to take shape in our day, which speaks of Jesus’ return in power and glory. But if we’re seeing the signs leading up to His second coming at the end of the Tribulation, then how much nearer will the rapture be, which is without signs, prior to the Tribulation. That’s our conviction. In fact, next week, that’s the message. I’ll be back from a trip to Dallas both for Saturday and Sunday, but we’ll be looking at 1 Thessalonians 4 probably: “Leaving Soon: The Doctrine of the Rapture.” I want to make an argument for a pre-tribulational rapture of the church. So don’t miss that. Bring your Reformed friends who need educated to hear that.
So, Romans 13:11–14: “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 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. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”
It was noon, and the church clock started striking the hour, but something had gone wrong with the mechanism. So, it not only struck 12; it struck 13, 14, 15. A little girl who goes by the church every day on her way home from school for lunch listened with astonishment, and then she burst into her home shouting this: “Mommy, Mommy, it’s never been so late before.”
As we look out on our world, wouldn’t you agree it’s never been so late before? That’s just a statement of fact. That’s a historical reality. This is the longest and latest moment in human existence. Historically, it’s Saturday evening, but while that statement is a matter of chronological reality, I think there’s a growing sense in the world that the hour is late in terms of human peril and human predicament and human problems. Our world is uneasy about the future. Have you noticed that? Politicians, climate alarmists, professors on university campuses, people in general are not sure what’s coming next, but they do have a sinking feeling. They do have a sneaking suspicion it’s not good. There may be a catastrophe around the corner.
Can I give you several to chew on? What about a third and final world war due to nuclear weapons? What about environmental catastrophe, if it’s to be believed, due to climate change? What about the growing shortage of food and water? Water’s the new commodity. What about a new and more deadly viral pandemic? What about the massive and disruptive industrial revolution that’s coming due to AI? What will that look like? What about the broad and political and social disorder, which is just evidence in itself, before our eyes, day in and day out? What about the collapse of the family, which is the cornerstone of society and civilization? As the home goes, so goes the nation. That doesn’t purport well for the future. What about the denial of good and evil due to political and philosophical relativism, which, by the way, will give cover in the future for real evil?
There’s a creeping apprehension about the lateness of the hour, the peril of the moment, and it’s borne out by the fact that the doomsday clock is the nearest it’s ever been to midnight. Anybody heard of the doomsday clock? You can Google it. You can find it on Wikipedia. The doomsday clock is a symbol that represents the likelihood of a human-made global catastrophe in the opinion of the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. It’s been in existence since 1947, and its hands have moved in reaction to climate change, nuclear risk, political upheaval, unchecked technological advances, natural disasters. Now, the clock’s original setting was in 1947, and it was seven minutes to midnight. Right? Seven minutes to some human global catastrophe. It has since been sat backwards eight times; it has since been set forward 17 times, a total of 25 movements. The furthest time from midnight was 17 minutes to midnight—1991. The nearest time is 90 seconds to midnight—January 24, 2023.
The fear of a catastrophe is real. It’s never been so late before. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Russian dissident, said this: “Today’s world has reached a stage which, if it had been described to preceding centuries, would have called forth the cry: ‘This is the Apocalypse!’” It’s never been so late before. That’s just a chronological fact. It’s never been so late before. People have a growing sense of anxiety and impending disaster. But I want to add one other thing. It’s never been so late before in terms of prophetic anticipation. The church is nearer to the coming of Christ and the end times than it’s ever been before. Our midnight is not a man-made global catastrophe. Our midnight is the coming of Jesus Christ for His people, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as King to take back what is rightfully His and establish His kingdom, and it’s nearer than it’s ever been. It’s never been so late in terms of prophetic anticipation. The world is anxious, but the church is hopeful. The world is awaiting a disaster. The church is awaiting a deliverance.
We’ll get into this next time when we look at the rapture, or the catching up of the saints to meet Jesus in the air to go to heaven, to go to the Father’s house. But you read something of that in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, that the church was waiting up for Jesus to come back to deliver them from the wrath to come. What wrath? The wrath of the Day of the Lord, the Tribulation. You read about that in 1 Thessalonians 5:9. We’re children of the light. We’re not children of the night. We’re children of the day. What night? The night of the Day of the Lord. We’re not appointed to that wrath. We’ve been appointed to salvation and deliverance from the wrath to come.
So, with that backdrop in mind, let’s come to our text, Romans 13:11¬–14, where you’ll notice the language: It’s late; it’s “high time.” Our salvation, in terms of glorification, is nearer than it’s ever been. The day of Jesus appearing as the morning star is at hand.
Now, let’s put the text in its context since we’re jumping in and jumping out. The text begins with, “And do this.” This is an exhortation in the light of the exhortations that have preceded it. Now, there’s a debate. Are we talking about verses 8–10, where we’re to love one another and love our neighbor? Is it all of chapter 13, where you’re to submit to the government? Or is it maybe the whole way back to chapter 12, verse 1, where Paul begins to exhort them to live in the light of the gospel and present their body as a living sacrifice and to prove what the will of God is? I would probably lean there.
But the point I want you to see is that our section is giving us the “why” behind the “what.” Paul has talked a lot about what they’re to do. They’re to surrender. They’re to discover their spiritual gifts. They’re to serve the Lord with fervency. They’re to submit to the government. They’re to love each other and their neighbor. And why? Because the night is far spent. The day of Jesus’ return is at hand. Here’s another example of what we may call ethical eschatology. Eschatology—the doctrine of the last things, the anticipation of the end of time—is always set in the Bible in the context of moral living, holy living. And we have it again here.
One other example of that would be what? Hebrews 10:24–25: Don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but stir one another up unto love and good works. As Jim Elliot said, we don’t need a pat in the back; “we need a kick in the pants.” Paul says, hey, kick each other in the pants. Move on in your walk with God. Deepen your love for God. Broaden your knowledge of the Scriptures and fulfill the law. Fulfill the will of God for you in your lifetime. And do it so much the more as you see the day approaching.
Three things: the time, the tenacity, the transformation. We’re going to look at the time that Paul calls the Romans to appreciate and grasp. Then, we’re going to look at the tenacity he expects in the fight with sin. Then, we’re going to look at the transformation you and I ought to model in the light of our final salvation.
The time. According to the apostle Paul, you’ll notice in verse 11, “It is high time.” It’s nighttime historically, morally. The Day of Christ and our final salvation is nearer than it’s ever been. It’s all there. It’s kind of phrase upon phrase. The anticipation of Jesus’ return is being ratcheted up with every word that Paul writes. It’s never been so late before. The next great event is Jesus’ coming and the events that surround it. We’ve had the incarnation, which was a fulfillment of Genesis 3, which was a fulfillment of the promises of the prophets. We’ve had the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We’ve had the ascension of Jesus. We’ve had the advent of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and now we await the return of the Master.
That’s the hour we’re living. Paul urges them to know. Did you notice that? Verse 11: “knowing the time.” It’s a word that means “to perceive, to fully grasp.” Understand where you’re at in the curve of redemptive history. We’re at a pinnacle point. The word “time” is not the word chronos, which means the unfolding of time—minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. It’s ongoing; it is stretched across millennium. No, this is the word kairos. This is significant periods of time within chronos time. These are the times that shape men. These are the times that history turns on. These are the times in which God works in strange and marvelous ways. That’s our word.
Do you understand the era you’re in, the dispensation you’re in, the epic that you’re living? Jesus has come, died, been buried, raised, right hand of God. Spirit has come. Church has been born. The next big epic is His coming. You’re the in-betweeners. You’re living in the meantime. You’re living the last days.
Now, people ask me all the time, “Pastor, are we living in the last days?” Yes, we’ve been living in the last days for a long time because according to Hebrews 1:2, the last days are the moment from Jesus’ birth to Jesus’ return. God has spoken in these last days by His Son. First John 2:18 says what? This is the last hour, and there are many antichrists who have gone out into the world. And this was written some 2,000 years ago.
I was sharing a platform with Mark Hitchcock, Jack Hibbs, and several prophetic preachers recently, and I think it was Jack who said, “These are not simply the last days. These are the last hours and maybe the last minutes.” Maybe. But we are much further on than when Paul wrote this and said, “It’s high time.” The night is nearly over, and the day of Jesus’ coming is near. We need to have situational awareness. Don’t we? We need to locate ourselves within history. We need to be like the tribe of Issachar, who understood the times and what Israel needed to do. Remember, Jesus chastised the generation that was alive when He appeared the first time for not recognizing Him. In Matthew 16:3, He says, you know what? You can read the signs of the sky. You can tell the weather. Red sky at night shepherds the light. Red sky in the morning shepherds warning. But you seem to be oblivious to prophetic movement. I’m the dayspring that has come from on high, and you missed it.
Leon Morris, in his wonderful commentary on Roman, says they need to understand the character of the age. Or, as someone loosely but accurately translated those opening words, “And this do, knowing the kind of time it is.” Listen. “And this do, knowing the kind of time it is.” So, walk decently, knowing the time it is. Put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, knowing what time it is. Put on the Lord Jesus, and don’t give any thought to providing for the flesh, knowing what time it is. We need to grasp that. We need to know what time it is.
The older generation will remember an actor called Victor Borge, a big-time actor a generation ago. There’s a funny story I read about him. He had someone over at his home or his apartment. It was late in the night, and he said, “You know what? I can tell time by my piano. I have a piano that can tell time.” The guy says, “I’d love to see it.” So Victor Borge goes over, and he starts tinkling on the ivories and making a noise. All of a sudden, there’s this banging on the wall, and his neighbor shouts, “Don’t you know what time it is? It’s 1:30 in the morning! Cut that out!”
He had a piano that could tell time. Do you know what time it is? It’s late.
Now, I want to, for a few minutes, not go off on a tangent, but talk about what’s explicit in the text rather than implicit. Paul’s talking about the lateness of the hour in terms of redemptive history. Paul’s talking about the lateness of the hour in terms of the possibility of prophetic fulfillment. They were not to sleep in on the moment they were living. And if that was true then, how much more now? Think about that statement he made to the Roman church 2,000 years ago. The time is far spent. They were 4,000 years into world history. We’re now 6,000 years into world history. Is that not more true today than ever?
Are we not beginning to see some of the signs converging and emerging that lead up to the day that Paul talks about, when the night will come to an end and a new kingdom of righteousness will dawn upon Jesus’ return? Jesus talks about signs and indicators of the last days in Matthew 24:3 and Matthew 24:32–35. We find that again in Luke 21:7. Jesus said to the generation, it will be alive in the unfolding of the Tribulation period and the appearance of the Antichrist. When you see these things happening . . . What will happen? What things will happen? What events will take place? Well, let me run down a few and see if we can’t connect the dots, see if we can’t at least begin to get a sense that that is emerging and converging in our time in an accelerated manner.
What about the return to the days of Noah? That’ll be one of the signs of the last days. It’s late, and when it’s late, you’re going to see the return to the days of Noah. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 24:36–44: “As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Study Genesis 6–9: days of violence, days of material preoccupation, days of spiritual disinterest. They just ate. They drank. They married. They paid no attention to the ark, and they paid no attention to the gathering storm. Doesn’t that describe our friends? Isn’t it harder to reach people today for Christ? They just seem very disinterested. They’re just going about their business.
It was days of sexual immorality. These are the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. These are the days of Noah and Lot. It was Billy Graham, I think, who said that, given where America’s at morally and sexually, if God doesn’t judge America—and perhaps we could talk about the Western world at large—soon He’s going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. These are the days of Lot and Noah.
Secondly, we’ll see a retreat from biblical doctrine. The last days will be marked by false religious claims. Jesus talks about that in Matthew 24:23–24. False christs will appear. “Many will come in My name” (Matt. 24:5). And there will also be apostasy within the professing church. That would be 2 Thessalonians 2:3, when Paul is answering a question that the Thessalonians proposed to him. “Someone has told us we’re in the day of the Lord. In fact, they told us that comes from you.” Paul says, “Now, you know better. We’re not children of the night. We’re children of the day. We’re not being appointed unto that wrath. Look, let me remind you that that day won’t come until the man of sin appears, until the restrainer is removed, until there’s a great falling away.” It’s a Greek word, apostasia. It means a deliberate abandoning of truth.
My friend, within recent history, from mainline churches and now even within evangelicalism, we’re witnessing apostasy, a rejection of the faith that the minister professes to believe. We’re watching the ordination of homosexual ministers. We’re watching the embrace of homosexual marriage, the justification of transgenderism. We’re watching the denial of the necessity of the virgin birth. We’re watching a denial of the blood substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. We’re watching a denial of eternal, conscious punishment in hell, just to name a few of the doctrinal controversies and departures of the last few decades.
Today, we’re watching the willful abandonment of a biblical gospel within even evangelicalism. Maybe the poster child, sadly, of that would be Rob Bell, a once-professing evangelical with a burgeoning church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I remember visiting it many years ago. But, over the years, he has abandoned the gospel. He’s denied the necessity of the virgin birth. In fact, one of his statements in recent times has been this, that “the church will continue to be even more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2,000 years ago as their best defense.”
Look, I’d love to see God move. I’d love to see an element of reformation or revival in our day, but as I read the prophetic Scriptures, I’m not sure that’s promised. God, in His grace, might give us it, but I don’t have a big expectation for it. I hear a lot today from churches and television about “last days revival” and a “great move of God.” It seems to me, when I read my Bible leading up to Jesus’ return, it’s apostasy, it’s departure, it’s deception.
John Phillips—an old but very good writer—says, “Some think we can look for a worldwide spiritual awakening before the Rapture of the church, but this passage in 2 Thessalonians indicates the opposite; a worldwide departure from the faith can be expected. God might indeed send a revival before He calls home the church, but the Scriptures do not prophesy one.” This age will close with a great falling away.
What does Jesus say? Will the Son of Man find faith on the earth? We’ve got rumors of war in the Middle East. Jesus said these are the things that will lead up to the end of time. It’s late, my friend, and we’re watching these things—rumors of war in the Middle East. The Middle East is the staging grounds for the great events of the end times. Read the book of Revelation, and you’ll see that. Read Matthew 24, where Jesus talks about Jerusalem, the temple, and people fleeing from Judea. Go to Zechariah 14, a companion passage, and Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives. The nations will surround Jerusalem in those last days, and Jerusalem will become a cup of trembling (Zech. 12). Jesus said there’ll be “wars and rumors of wars” (Matt. 24:6–7), and they will be centered on the Middle East.
I think there are two great battles of the end time. Gog and his allies. We have a northern invasion in the first part of the Tribulation in Zechariah at 38–39. If you look at those historic names in their present-day countries, we’re talking about Syria, Iran, Russia, Turkey. Does that sound familiar? Then, you’ve got Revelation 16:16, the battle of Armageddon at the end of the Tribulation period, when the armies of the Antichrist will fight with Christ, which is no competition. He’ll just say a word, and it’s over.
These warnings read like today’s newspapers. The pressure is building all around us in the Middle East. The lid could blow off at any time. I mean, there’s a sense that what’s going on right now could quickly accelerate. There’s coming an unavoidable showdown with Iran and Israel in the Western powers. When I was in Israel a couple of years ago with 100 of our people, I was in a private conversation with our guide, who was an ex-IDF commando. He said, “Philip, Israel will fight a major war in its northern border in 3 to 5 years.” That hasn’t happened yet, by the way. They’re fighting in the south in Gaza. There have been skirmishes around their northern border with Hezbollah, but there’s going to be a major war on that border, according to that Israeli commando. And the Bible talks about that.
What about the rise of globalism? I think we’ve lost sight of the massive movement in terms of globalism in our day. We know that the Antichrist is going to leverage his power through global banking and global religion in a one-world government. You read about that in Revelation 13:11–18. We’ll get to that when we look at him. We know from 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 that he will declare himself God in a rebuilt temple, and he will call the world to worship him. This is the same figure who will call the world to worship him religiously, who will have a one-world government, and who will determine who gets to buy and sell if you don’t take his mark.
Now, look at the world today. It’s trending towards globalism—in the banks, technology, communications, health responses, politics, disaster responses, religious harmony. After every disaster, there’s a call for the world powers to unite in responding. If you watch a lot of political rallies today, especially on the left, you’ll see signs about being a global citizen. You’ll see signs that read, “No borders.” You’ll see signs that read, “There are no illegals, just world citizens.”
The elites of the world hate nationalism. The trend is as old as the book of Genesis. After the universal flood, a wicked leader by the name of Nimrod encourages the culture of that day to coalesce around him in an area in Babylon, where they build a tower, the Tower of Babel. And there’s one government. There’s one religion that reaches to heaven. And God comes down and scatters them across the earth because man was meant to go into all the world and exercise dominion among the different parts of the world and different groups.
What about the rampant persecution of Christians? Jesus said in Matthew 24:9 that His followers will be persecuted for His name’s sake. Paul reminds us in the church, in Acts 14:22, through much tribulation you’ll enter God’s kingdom. Suffering has been the lot of God’s people during the church age. It’s a trail of blood if you study it and trace it.
Tertullian, the church father, said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” That’s true throughout church history, and then, with the church’s removal, it will be exacerbated in the Tribulation period as people come to Christ through the witness of the 144,000 and the two witnesses. And they will be expunged and martyred. Revelation 6:9–11. Revelation 13:7–10. It’s all there.
Jeff Kinley, a friend of our ministry here, in his book Aftershocks, says this: “Christians are being actively persecuted in 150 countries, affecting an estimated 250 million believers. Every month, an average of 105 churches are attacked, burned, or vandalized.”
By the way, we’ve seen that come to America if you’ve traced the whole thing about abortion and the vandalizing of hundreds of churches—for which, by the way, there’s been very little arrests made in comparison to January 6th and other things.
We’ve watched brethren be martyred every day for their faith. It is said that up to 11 Christians are killed every single day. We’ve had churches forced to close. We’ve had Bible burnings. We’ve had pastors arrested. And, again, in the last few years, we’ve seen that in the United States for the first time almost in our history.
In fact, it’s so bad . . . I found an interesting article that came out some years ago, around about 2014 or 2015, in the New York Times, of all papers. It was an editorial by Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress. You know what it was entitled? “Who Will Stand Up for the Christians?” He said this: “Why is the world silent while Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East and Africa? . . . The Middle East and parts of central Africa are losing entire Christian communities that have lived in peace for centuries. . . . The general indifference to ISIS, with its mass executions of Christians and its deadly preoccupation with Israel, isn’t just wrong; it’s obscene.” That’s from a Jewish leader. As he looks out in the world, he’s seeing no one seems to be speaking up for Christians. By the way, across the world, they’re in a minority.
It nauseates me when our government talks about minorities, talks about Jews and Muslims and Hindus, and never, ever talks about the minority of Christians throughout the world that are being persecuted above any other group. But then Jesus told us they’re going to persecute you. The world conditions will not be favorable to Christianity. There will be powers at work seeking to expunge it.
What about regression in society? Kind of ties in to the days of Lot and Noah. That would be 2 Timothy 3:1–5: “In the last days,” says Paul, “men will be lovers of themselves.” Have you seen that recently? Lovers of self rather than lovers of God. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Brutal despisers of what is good. Disobedience to parents. We could go on. There’s 18 trends in that passage that are all trending today in the moral breakdown of society: violence, brutality, the violation of parental rights, leisure and pleasure driving society.
Remember old William Booth of the Salvation Army? Remember what he said almost 100 years ago? Tell me if we’re not living it. He says, “The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.”
Let me get one more in, the big one. I kept it to the end. Last but not least, the regathering of the nation of Israel. That’s the super sign. That’s the sign around which all the other signs will coalesce. Why would I say that? Because Israel will have to be in existence as a nation for many things to happen. The Antichrist will make a seven-year covenant with Israel (Dan. 9). The Antichrist will invade Israel and desecrate the temple (Matt. 24). Gog and His allies will invade the north of Israel (Ezek. 38). All the nations of the earth will invade Jerusalem (Zech. 14). And the people of Israel will flee to the wilderness to escape the wrath of Satan (Rev. 12). That can’t happen without the existence of Israel.
1948: The night is far spent. The day is at hand. It’s high time. 1948: Israel comes into existence for the first time in almost 1,900 years. If you study history, it is said that no other nationality has survived extinction after 500 years of being dispossessed of their homeland. How do you explain it? Even the agnostic Mark Twain looked at the Jew and called the Jew the immortal Jew. How do you explain it? The Bible explains it. God has made a covenant, and He’s keeping that covenant. The Bible holds out in Ezekiel 39, in Romans 9, for a regathering and a redemption of Israel as a nation, and we are witnessing that. We are watching that.
The 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica included this statement: “The possibility that we can ever again recover the correct pronunciation of ancient Hebrew is as remote as the possibility that a Jewish empire will ever again be established in the Middle East.” That was 1911, and then came 1948.
Guys, we are living in prophetically significant times. It’s late. It’s high time. Do you know the time you’re living in? Don’t ignore the convergence and acceleration of these signs. We have lived to see the regathering of Israel. We have lived to see a reemerging Roman Empire, from which the Antichrist will arise. We are living the signs that we have just indicated, and we’re living in a world that is so global that when one nation sneezes, the other nation catches the cold.
It’s college football playoff time. Mark Hitchcock and I were talking about life, sports, the Bible. He said, “I was thinking about this the other day, Philip. When Game Day on ESPN started many moons ago, it was just a panel of analysts. They were sitting there. Until, on one particular broadcast—somewhere in the late ’70s, early ’80s—a fan turned up one day behind them and held a poster. It started a trend, and then there were dozens. And then there were hundreds. If you watch Game Day today, literally thousands of fans are behind the broadcast. That’s what it’s become. But it all started with one sign, and then a whole bunch of signs joined the one sign.” Mark said, “Is that not an illustration? If Israel is the super sign, if it’s a unique sign, if it’s a standalone sign in terms of its prophetic significance, no wonder we’re watching all the other signs coalesce around the one sign.”
By the way, before I leave this, we’ll look at the rapture next Sunday morning. I’ll make an argument that that will happen prior to the Tribulation. I think the second coming of Jesus is in two aspects and two phases. Most of what we are talking about will flower fully in the period of the Tribulation. Therefore, the rapture is without signs. It’s imminent. But, at the same time, the rapture won’t happen in a vacuum. If it’s the trigger event—if it’s the domino that causes all the other dominoes to fall—wouldn’t you think we’ll begin to see a world that takes shape, that looks something like Zechariah 14:12, looks something like Revelation 6–19, looks something like Matthew 24–25, looks something like Luke 21? And we are.
So, if we are seeing the signs of Jesus’ return in power and glory, how near is the rapture? In fact, John Walvoord, a great prophetic teacher from Dallas Theological Seminary, has this wonderful little illustration. He says, you know, when all the signs around you tell you that Christmas is coming—from decorations to trees to music to Santa at the mall—you need to remind yourself that Thanksgiving can sneak up on you, because there’s not as many signs for Thanksgiving as there are for Christmas. Usually, the signs for Christmas appear before Thanksgiving, and all of a sudden you’re just fixated on Christmas. If you’re not careful, you can miss Thanksgiving. It’ll sneak up on you.
And that’s his analogy. If we’re seeing the signs of the second coming of Jesus, as described by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse, don’t let the rapture sneak up on you—because it comes before and prior to.
Okay, for the time that remains, we’re just going to look at two other aspects of this passage. I really wanted to camp there. It’s late. It really is. I think, as we look out on the world, we can see that, and it should make a difference in our lives. So, for a few minutes, let’s look at what I call the tenacity and the transformation. This deserves a better treatment, but this is what we’ll do in the time that remains.
The tenacity. That is, you and I need to be tenacious. We need to be active. We need to be aggressive in fighting the flesh in the light of Jesus’ return. He tells us here in verses 11 and 12, okay, it’s time to wake up out of the sleep—that is, out of a spiritual slumber. Don’t be dozing off in terms of your discipleship.
Don’t let your guard down in terms of what the world, the flesh, and the devil can do to your Christian experience. Wake up out of sleep. Your salvation’s near. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” Verse 12: “Therefore,” here’s what you need to do. “. . . cast off the works of darkness, and . . . put on the armor of light.” Changing the metaphor to walking, walk properly or decently or circumspectly as in the day, not in revelry, partying; not in drunkenness, abuse of alcohol; not in lewdness or lust, sexual immorality in thought and deed; not in strife or in envy, envying what a person is or envying what a person has.
The mention of armor here is interesting, isn’t it? Put on the armor of light. Put off the works of darkness. It would remind us that life in Christ and life is a battle. That’s why you need to wake up. Don’t become a casualty. For those who will never be discarded by God’s love—Romans 8—they must discard those things in their lives that God hates and is against His love.
Romans 13, “put off.” God will never discard us. Let’s discard the things that offend Him and impede that work of salvation, which has three points to it: justification, sanctification, glorification. We’ll come back to that momentarily. This word “put off” is striking. It’s a strong word. It’s in the aorist tense. Be decisive about this. Be serious about this. Don’t be doing what you wouldn’t want to be doing when Jesus comes. Stop it; end it. It’s the idea of putting off dirty clothes.
Every Saturday, when I was a teenager, I played on a soccer team. The pitch was a farmer’s field where we had stuck a couple of goalposts. We roughly knew where the boundaries were. Being a farmer’s field, during the week cows used it, and they fertilized it. So, you can imagine us playing soccer on this field and sliding tackles and all the rest of it. So, I come home in a mess, smelling like a farmer’s field. My mother knew roughly what time I came home. She knew when I left, so she knew when I was coming home. Whether I was attempting to come through the front door or the back door, she would just yell, “Don’t you dare come into my house dressed like that!” And I literally had to change in the backyard. Sometimes, I’d just get the garden hose and wash some of it down. “Don’t you dare come into my house! You take those clothes off.”
And that’s what we’re being told to do. Don’t dare meet Jesus in a state of disobedience. Don’t dare meet Jesus with flagrant sin that you’ve never overcome. He talks about these six sins. They’re a sample, but no doubt the believers at Rome had come out of this world—out of the partying scene, out of drunkenness, out of sexual lewdness, sleeping around, out of a world of strife where dog-eat-dog, out of a world of competition where you climb the ladder and stomp on anybody’s fingers on the rung beneath you.
Paul says, “That’s behind you. Put that lifestyle away and put on the Lord Jesus”—which brings us to the last thought: the transformation. Because, remember, we’ve got almost the language of Ephesians 4. Remember when we studied Ephesians 4:20–24? Put on, put off, put on. Similar language here. “Cast [put] off the works of darkness” (v. 12) and “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (v. 14).
Paul makes an interesting statement. Let’s go back up a little bit: “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.” What do you mean, Paul? We are saved. We are enjoying salvation. Yes, you are, but salvation’s bigger than you first anticipate. See, when you and I get saved, we’re kind of on the front door of it. All we want in many ways is, “Hey, I want the Damocles Sword of God’s wrath lifted. I want to know there’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ. I don’t want to go to hell.” And that’s good and well. Noah was moved by the fear of God to the saving of his household. There’s nothing wrong with being motivated by that.
But, once you get on the inside, you come to understand that salvation’s not just a get-out-of-jail card. God’s got a big intention in salvation, which ends up with you and me looking like Jesus. I don’t mean facially or in feature; I mean it morally, in behavior. We take on the beauty of His holiness. We were once patterned after the first Adam, and someday we’ll be patterned after the last Adam. Beautiful. And that’s where we’re headed.
So, Paul talks about here the final aspect of salvation. You know, there’s three tenses to salvation. I don’t have time to go here, which is a shame, but write these down and look at them.
In Ephesians 2:8, it talks about, we are saved: “For by grace you have been saved.” Past tense. That’s justification. That’s the declaration of being made right through the imputed righteousness of Christ before God.
But, in 1 Corinthians 1:18, he talks about being saved. He talks to the Corinthians about those “who are being saved.” Well, that’s sanctification. In justification, we are saved from the penalty of sin. In sanctification, we’re saved from the power, dominion, of sin. So, the life we once lived, we don’t have to live. By the power of the Spirit, drawing upon the means of grace, we can put off the works of darkness. We can stop the revelry. We can stop the drunkenness. We can stop the sexual immorality. We can stop the focus on self at the expense of others.
Then, in Romans 5:9, it talks about the fact that “we shall be saved.” That’s future. That’s glorification. That’s when our bodies are changed—when we put off this corruptible body and put on an incorruptible body. And we put off this natural body and put on a spiritual body. It doesn’t mean “spiritual” in the sense it’s not physical. It means we are given a body now not susceptible to the flesh, a body that gladly surrenders to the will of God (Rom. 12).
So, are you saved? The answer to that is “yes,” and “I am,” and “I will be.” In fact, it’s important to understand that arc because again, knowing the time. Know your location within redemptive history. See the big picture not only in terms of history but what God wants to do in your life through the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t be asleep to what God is doing in your life and has yet to do. We’re going to end up looking like Jesus. First John 3:2: It doesn’t yet appear what we shall be, but when He shall appear, “we shall be like Him.” That’s our identity. That’s our goal. That’s our target. That’s our finishing line. So, that’s why in Romans 13, put off, put on; Ephesians 4, put off, put on; Colossians 3:12, put off, put on.
Our union with Christ ties every thought and every action in our lives to modeling Him. See, we’re united to Him now by faith—like the branch in the vine, like the arm in the body. Therefore, He colors everything about us, or He should. We’re to be little Christs (Acts 11:26). We call ourselves Christians, but you do know the genesis of that term. It was a pejorative term. It was a diminutive term that the world gave to followers of Jesus. “Oh, they’re the little Jesuses.” And the church took it and tried to live it.
So, as we close, let’s put on the Lord Jesus. Let’s put off the works of darkness. I like what Ray Stedman says about that image: “When I get up in the morning I put on my clothes, intending them to be part of me all day, to go where I go and do what I do. They cover me and make me presentable to others. That is the purpose of clothes. In the same way, the apostle [Paul] is saying to us . . . , ‘Put on Jesus Christ when you get up in the morning. Make Him a part of your life that day. Intend that He go with you everywhere you go, and that He act through you in everything you do. Call upon His resources. Live your life IN CHRIST.’”
That’s why you don’t want to be doing anything you wouldn’t want to be doing when He comes—when you’re meant to be living as He lived.
Let me finish with a story that Charles Swindoll tells. I think it’s a good way to end the sermon. This is back a little bit. President Dwight Eisenhower was vacationing and visiting Denver, Colorado, and he’s staying there and reading the newspaper one day. There was an open letter in the paper about a little boy by the name of Paul Healy. He was six years old, and tragically, he was dying of cancer. And yet, one of the things he said he would love to do was see the president of the United States.
So, spontaneously, to his credit, Eisenhower jumps in a limousine, gets the address of the little boy, and goes there, raps on the door. The little boy’s dad, Donald, comes to the door, not expecting to see the president¬¬—shocked out of his socks. There he stands—unshaven, an old pair of jeans, and a faded T-shirt with a couple of holes in it. The president comes in, spends a little bit of time with Paul, and then leaves. As you can imagine, it’s the talk of the town. Journalists asked the father, “Well, what’s your memory of a president being in your house?” He says, “Oh, my memory is I’m embarrassed. Old jeans, faded shirt, unshaven face. What a way to greet the president of the United States.”
I don’t need to apply that, do I? When Jesus comes, you want to be dressed properly. That means putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and making no provision, having no forethought, to sinning.
Lord, we thank You for our time in the Word this morning. We are challenged by it. We would take our watches and synchronize them with the prophetic clock of heaven. It’s later than it’s ever been before. If the world thinks there are seconds to go to midnight, how much more does the church live in prophetic expectation?
Lord, we thank You this morning. We are not appointed to wrath but to salvation. The things that are coming upon this world that will cause men’s hearts to stop, we will not be here to see. We thank You for sparing us that, like You did Noah and his family, like You did Lot and his family. But, Lord, we want to be ready for Your return for the church, so help us to be decisive. Help us to take action. Help us to be deliberate in our discipleship. Help us to kill sin, because if we don’t kill sin, sin will be killing us. We want to be properly dressed. We want to be walking decently when the Master comes. Lord, we pray the words of David Brainerd, the great missionary. Lord, help me not to loiter on my way to heaven. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.