Awake, Sleeper! Pt 4

plug in a brief public service
announcement on April the 6th. I will not be in the pulpit because
we will have a guest new friend that I met out of the Shepherds
Conference. Brett Laird. He is a missionary
with Slavic gospel. I’ll tell you more about that
the day that I introduce him. It is absolutely providential
and exciting. And Brett Laird will be here
to introduce his ministry to us and he’ll take the pulpit
as well on Sunday, April 6th. So I would just encourage you
all to begin praying for him and for the church as we receive
him here in a couple of weeks. Romans chapter 13. As we have said, Paul has noted
that the alarm clock has gone off. We are already late, as
it were. That’s the tone that he kind
of presents. And he essentially calls us to
a season of watchfulness, a season of alertness, a season where
we are not mired in sloth and moral laxity, but we have been
rousted to our feet, called to arms as it were, as we saw last
week and called to ready ourselves even for the Lord’s return. If
you would, I want to just remind us, refresh us of the depth and
richness of this passage beginning in verse 11 of chapter 13. Where Paul wrote, This do knowing
the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. For now, salvation is nearer
to us than when we believed the night is almost gone and the
day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the
deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave
properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not
in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but
put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the
flesh in regards to its lusts.” Paul says it’s late. The alarm
clock, as it were, didn’t go off. We all know that experience.
But he says that you’re already behind. It’s already the hour
for you to awaken from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us
now than when we believed. We’re closer now to the end. The end of our own lives. The
nearness of the Lord’s return perhaps. All of that is nearer
than when we first placed our faith in Jesus Christ. We looked last week at the second
of these urgencies that Paul prompted us to. I said that there
were four urgencies prompted by the hour at hand. The hour
at hand motivates our very duty to others. Remember, back in
chapter 12, verse 9, he started with all of this. Our duty towards
Christians and others. The downtrodden. Those that are
contrary. Civil government. And all of
that is motivated by what he says in verse 11. This do. All of these relationships are
tied into that one phrase. This do, knowing the time. It’s
time. There was a second urgency prompted. Not only does it motivate our
very duty to others, but it admonishes us to spiritual readiness, spiritual
readiness. And we saw that in verse 12.
There it says the night is almost gone, it’s not daylight yet. We know the Lord is returning.
We know that one day the light of the full glory of God will
be here. We know that in heaven all is
glory and that is day. That’s the imagery that Paul
is using. But right now it’s night. The
night is almost gone. It’s still dark. We’re still
in the dark. We are still waiting for the
dawn to break. Therefore, Paul says, let us
lay aside the deeds of darkness. We can’t live like it’s night
any longer. Let us put on the armor of light.
We left off there last Lord’s Day. We’ll come back. To the third point, but I want
to introduce this third point, we find ourselves in this passage.
An almost quintessential summary of Paul’s thought. Paul really
sums up and summarizes some of his most favorite themes. Some
of his most cherished themes are in this passage, the Christian
walk. I’ll come back to that in a moment. Some of his most
important subjects that he ever addresses. that of sanctification
is found in this passage. Some of Paul’s most frequently
used metaphors, light and dark, day and night. Some of his most
oft repeated words, sensuality, strife, drunkenness. Some of
his most recurring warnings, the deeds of the flesh. Some
of his most regularly uttered exhortations, put off, put on. Consider the Christian walk.
Paul uses this metaphor so richly throughout his epistles, and
I want to take just one moment to lay this out to you, how rich
and how regular this treatment of what he basically calls our
conversation, the way that we conduct ourselves in the world. I alluded to this already in
prayer, that in Romans 6 it talks about those who Rise and walk
in newness of life there purely by God’s grace. We walk a different
way. We live a different way. Romans 8.4 says that we do not
walk according to the flesh. Romans 14.15 you no longer are
walking according to love is challenged there. If we defraud
our brothers. Repeated throughout Paul’s Gospels. Paul’s epistles rather first
Corinthians. He uses it second Corinthians.
He uses it again. Galatians 516 one of the most
classic and memorable uses. He says walk by the spirit and
you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. It mirrors the
thought in the passage before us. In Ephesians which might
well be retitled. The Epistle of the Christian
Walk. Listen to how many times Paul uses it and how varied he
uses it. In Ephesians 2.2 he talks about
that lifestyle in which we formerly walked. In Ephesians 2.10 he
calls us to a new lifestyle when he says we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand
so that we should walk in them. That should be our way of life.
Ephesians 4-1, I implore you to walk in a manner worthy of
the calling with which you have been called. Ephesians 4-17,
walk no longer as the Gentiles walk. Ephesians 5-2, walk in
love. Ephesians 5-8, walk as children
of light. Ephesians 5-15, be careful how
you walk. Not as unwise men, but as wise. And that’s why I say here in
Romans 13, It is essentially a summary of past summary passage
of Paul’s greatest Christian thought. Paul. In the midst of his missionary
journeys would frequently sat down and. Set forth to write
an epistle. In the midst of his second missionary
journey, he traveled through Galatia Thessalonica, Corinth,
Ephesus, and many other cities. He had visited these places.
He knew what the people had been saved out of. He knew the culture
in which they had imbibed fully. He knew the lifestyle of the
people that were saved. And he knew what their former
life was. In his third missionary journey,
He goes back through Galatia, back through Ephesus, back through
many of those places. In the midst of his third missionary
journey, he writes a little letter to the Corinthians. And later
on, he would write again. And in the midst of that letter
to the Corinthians, he mentions two of the same things that he
mentions in this particular section. Just briefly, Paul had been to
Corinth. He knew the culture from which these people were
saved and he knew the culture in which they still found themselves. He knew what a tremendous temptation
it was to the church in Corinth. And with almost. A pastoral fear,
he writes back to the church in Corinth in Chapter 12, verse
20, and he says, I am afraid that perhaps When I come, I may
find it to be not what I wish and may be found by you, not
what you wish that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry
tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances. I am afraid that when I come
again, my my God may humiliate me before you and I may mourn
over many who have sinned in the past and not repented. of
the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.
Paul knew. Paul knew that they were steeping
in this ungodly society and that many could and would fall. Paul had visited the region of
Galatia. We don’t know exactly what cities. We just know from the general
way that the book of Acts presents it that he went through the region
of Galatia. But he knew the culture. Paul
wasn’t necessarily writing to a specific church. He was writing
to a region when he speaks to the Galatians. He wasn’t writing
out of personal interaction with them particularly, but he knew
what they were facing. He knew what they were leaning
towards. And when Paul writes to them
and talks to them about the deeds of the flesh, he says, look,
do you want to know what a non-believer lives like? Do you want to know
what a Christian lives like? He talks about, first of all,
the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit, you know,
the passages. Regarding the deeds of the flesh, he mentioned some
of the same exact things that he mentions here in Romans. Now,
the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity,
sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts
of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions and being drunkenness,
carousing, and things like these of which I forewarn you, just
as I forewarned you that those who practice such things will
not inherit the kingdom of God. And so, even though Paul had
not yet been to Rome, Paul knew that the Roman culture was probably
worse than any of the other cities in which he had already visited.
He knew full well the culture out of which those believers
were being saved and in which they were still immersed. And
so when Paul writes to the Romans, Paul writes to them knowing full
well that God had rescued them, but knowing full well that they
were still in the midst of grave temptation and that many could
turn aside. Many could fail to yield to Christ
Many would fail to persevere. And Paul admonishes us by way
of admonishing the church in Rome to mortify sin. Point three. I said there were
four urgencies prompted by the hour of hand. We won’t even approach
the fourth point. We’ll instead focus upon point
three. The hour at hand motivates us
to our very duty to others. It admonishes us to spiritual
readiness, and it urges us to mortify sin. Paul sustains here
in verse 13 the contrast between day and light, between light
and dark. As I’ve already said, he never
said that it’s already daytime. We are to prepare for daytime.
We are to prepare for heavenly glory. We are to put on the armor
of light We are to put on the armor of light because it is
still dark. We are to put off the deeds of
darkness because we are no longer of the dark. As he would so clearly
say elsewhere, verse 13 serves to answer this question that
is generated by that statement in verse 12. What are the deeds
of darkness? Paul said that we’re supposed
to lay aside the deeds of darkness. We can’t live like we used to
live. We used to be dark. Not just
in the darkness, we used to be part of the problem. We can’t
be part of the problem anymore, we have to lay aside the deeds
of darkness, what are they? Well, just as we spent time last
week looking at what are what is the armor of light, what does
that look like? most clearly defined from what
he had said to the Ephesians and Ephesians chapter six. Here he wants to tell us what
are the deeds of darkness, look at verse 13. Where he says, let
us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness,
not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and
jealousy. And I want you to note again,
He says it’s as in the day. It’s not day yet. Let us behave properly as we
should if it were daylight. Of course, we talked about this.
The dark is that’s the time when the partiers party. That’s the
time when the thieves steal. That’s the time when sinners
sin. And he’s using this metaphor
over and over again, but he says as in the day, it’s not daylight
yet. Essentially what he says with
that little phrase, that short little phrase, live like you
will live in glory. Don’t wait until you get to heaven
to start living like a heavenly person. Live like you’re going
to live in glory, live like you’re going to live in heaven now while
it’s dark, live in light now while it’s dark. Literally, he says, as in the
day, let us walk around properly. There’s a way that you’re supposed
to conduct yourself. There’s a way that you’re supposed
to live. And in the light of the fullness of daytime, we’re
supposed to. And most people do live appropriately,
thieves don’t tend to do what they do during broad daylight,
that’s what makes those who do so Obnoxious. The word here that
we looked at briefly parapet to walk around occurs 33 times
in Paul’s epistles. He just he drives that point
home about the Christian walk. It’s only 16 times in the entire
rest of the New Testament. What he talks about here is our
conduct our way of life and you hear it in that that word parapet
it’s a parapet it’s that Narrow walkway along the top of a high
wall. Along the top, perhaps, of a
castle, a protective wall that the soldiers would walk. And
Paul says that we are supposed to walk and conduct ourselves
properly. Decently, we’re supposed to live
grace filled lives, we’re supposed to live becomingly according
to our profession of faith. decently, as Paul would say in
First Corinthians. We’re supposed to live in this
world, in this fallen, darkened world, modest lives, decent lives
in a becoming manner, and he says, as in the day. As one pastor
said, the Christian is bidden to think of himself as in the
daylight with light on him and all around him. I’ve often posed this question,
what would happen if we all had the The 1-800-HOWSMYDRIVING sticker,
you know, wouldn’t that change things? Wouldn’t it change things
if if we knew that everybody was watching everything that
we did? That’s essentially what Paul is saying. Let us behave
properly as in the day in the full light of God’s glory. The light of The knowledge of
the Holy One, as he goes on to say, the light of his felt presence,
such light as the dawning of that day in which we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. We’re supposed to be
daylight kinds of people. We’re supposed to live as if
it’s already glory. Glory is already dawning. We’re
already one foot in heaven and we should live like it. How so? Well, Paul doesn’t doesn’t pull
any punches here. anymore. Paul is going to lay
out exactly what the deeds of darkness are. Paul’s going to
point clearly to what it means to live properly as in the day.
Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and
sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. See, these words explain what
Paul’s talking about when he talks about the deeds of darkness.
And there’s, as you can tell, there’s three pairs, but it’s
fascinating if you note that each pair works not from the
cause to the result, but from the result to the cause. You
would think that Paul might say. Not drunkenness, which ultimately
leads to carousing. Not sensuality, which ultimately
issues forth in sexual promiscuity. Not jealousy, which almost always
ends in strife. Instead, the whole process is
is reversed. As for drunkenness. Leading to
carousing, that’s essentially how Paul ordered it when he addressed
it to the Galatians. But what he does with each of
these three pairs. Is instead of pointing to one
thing, causing another, he looks at them each each three pairs,
he looks at each as a whole. Carousing and drunkenness, promiscuity
and sensuality, strife and jealousy. Those cannot be the testimony
of a Christian. Likewise, when Peter mentions
these, it’s drunkenness first, then carousing. But for Paul,
it’s enough for him to say, to glue them together and to present
this sinful lifestyle. As one said, the relationship
between the two nouns and each pair is very close. Each pair
may be understood as suggesting one composite idea. Drunken revelries. Jealous strife and brawling is
often the result of drunken rebels and the debauchery to which they
lead. Sad, sad situation. I want to take each one of these
piece by piece. First of all, what about carousing?
What is this carousing? Carousing was mentioned a number
of times in Paul’s other epistles, as I already pointed out, but
essentially what he has in mind there. Is just the over use of
eating and drinking that ultimately issued forth in in just a roving
party like atmosphere, public revelry, carousing that So often
a company’s drinking here in Fort Collins and in a college
town, you don’t have to go far, especially on a Friday or Saturday
night to go downtown and to see it in action. People going from
place to place and extending the parties long into the evening. Many of you know this. A carousing
that caring about that so often a company’s drinking. As common one person put it,
the common boisterous carousing of drunken young men. That’s
what he’s pointing to. And drunkenness, it’s pretty
simple, pretty straightforward what he’s talking about here,
the overuse, the abuse of alcoholic drink, drunkenness, obviously
the result and it would lead to that kind of revelry. Robert
Haldane, excellent commentator on the scripture, said this this
sin is one of the greatest destroyers of mankind. We know that. You
don’t have to have me tell you that some of you have had that
experience in your own families. This sin is one of the greatest
destroyers of mankind, even where there are no hereafter. A wise
man would shun it as a pestilence. No other evil has so great a
share of bringing ruin on individuals and families. So what’s the point
here that Paul’s making, what’s the point in this first couplet? Don’t run the town. Obviously,
don’t be drunken, absolutely, don’t go running around with
a drunken binge with your pals, for sure. All those things are
true, but his point throughout this passage is the same point
that he intimates here. And it’s the same point that
Jesus made when he used the same exact word. Would you turn to
Luke chapter 21? In Luke chapter 21, Paul is in
the midst of really a series of parables on watchfulness,
and that is not unlike what Paul is doing in this passage in Romans
13. He’s calling us to watchfulness. He’s calling us to ready ourselves
in the here and now. For heavenly glory. He tells
the parable about alertness. By this parable of the fig tree,
look at verse 29, he told them a parable. Behold, the fig tree
and all the trees, as soon as they put forth leaves, you will
see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you
also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the
kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation
will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven
and Earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. It tells another parable. Recorded
in the other Gospels regarding The example of Noah’s day, just
as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the
ark. What he points to is the suddenness. He points to the
nearness of Christ’s return. He points to the absolute surprise. That those first rain raindrops
must have brought. But I want you to look at verse
34, chapter 21, verse 34, Because he points us to life’s
traps. That’s what he’s pointing to.
And that’s exactly what Paul is pointing to. Life’s traps. Look at verse 34. Be on guard. So that your hearts will not
be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries
of life. And that day will not come on
you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all those
who dwell on the face of the earth. But keep alert at all
times, praying that you might have strength to escape all these
things that are about to take place and to stand before the
Son of Man. Now he goes on to tell two more
parables. But I brought you here for that one set specific purpose. It’s as if Paul is saying exactly
what the Lord is saying. The Lord spoke it in more of
a parable form. Paul here more in prose. He says,
look, don’t Don’t live a drunken lifestyle. Don’t don’t take on
a lifestyle that dulls you to the sense of the day at hand.
Don’t turn a blind eye to what the Lord is doing that you are
in the night. The dawn is coming and it’s coming
soon. It’s coming in a day and an hour
when you do not know. Can’t live a drunken lifestyle,
you can’t live a life that ignores the signs of the day. As one
pastor said, Christ’s appeal here is quite clearly meant for
all believers of all ages, the teaching is as pertinent to those
who wait while he delays as it will be for those who witness
his sudden coming. The latter half of this discourse
is a potent and focused appeal for one thing. Preparedness. And that’s exactly what Paul
is calling us to in Romans chapter 13 preparedness. Let us behave properly as in
the day, not in carousing and drunkenness. We can’t live like
that and say that we’re preparing. For the light of glory, can we? There’s a second couplet. There’s
a second. Sin type. That tends to be a
trap to so many. Look at verse 13 again. Where
we’re called to mortify these sins, not in carousing and drunkenness,
not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, and there again,
I mean, it’s absolutely clear that sensuality is what leads
to sexual promiscuity here, but he takes it as a. Unit. The word sexual promiscuity here
Isn’t even as graphic as our new American standard, has it?
Some of you might even be trafficking still in some of the older translations. The King James has a chambering.
It doesn’t even speak of the act itself, it just talks about
the room in which it takes place. And we have those euphemisms
in our language, shacking up, hooking up, and we have all of
those kinds of things. And Paul says, Very plainly here. He points to the act and not
even as graphic as the new American standard is translated. It’s
indulgences, no doubt it’s indulgences of lustful pleasure, as one pointed
out. One pastor very carefully said
he talked about shameless excess and the absence of moral restraint. Lewd immorality, which characterizes
much of modern society, often flaunted almost as a badge of
distinction. That’s why you’ve heard me say
when you give your testimony, leave all that out. Nobody needs to know. Nobody
needs to know about all that nonsense. Chambering. Shacking up. What about sensuality? Sensuality
is. Is a very graphic word in and
of itself. It is open shamelessness, and
I’m going to spend some time on this word today. In fact,
we may not even make it through. It is lewdness. It is unrestrained
willfulness, as one put it. Another said outrageous disregard
of decency. Another wanton defiance of public
decency. Now, I just ask you to focus
in on. The nature of our day, the society
in which we live. Things are taking place now that
I never dreamed would take place. I walked into a store the other
day and two teenage girls literally arms about one another, flaunting
their lifestyle. If you would, I want to have
you turn over to Peter, but this was Peter’s focus as well. First
Peter, Chapter four. Peter is calling. Those to whom
he’s writing to a watchfulness, to a standard of life that is
different than that in which they were raised. First Peter,
Chapter four. Look at verse one. Therefore,
since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also
with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh
has ceased from sin so as to live the rest of the time in
the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
Did you hear what he said? He said that the whole rest of
your life should be dedicated to living for Christ and not
for yourself. Look at verse three for the time
already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire
of the Gentiles. You know what he says enough
is enough. You’ve dabbled in that you’ve
fallen into those things you’ve. You think you’ve enjoyed those
things you’ve had enough enough is enough. Time already passed is sufficient
for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles. Having
pursued a course of sensuality, same word, lusts, drunkenness,
carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. Peter says enough is enough.
The time in which you’ve already spent dabbling in those things,
immersed in those things is enough. And he points to several of the
same sins that Paul points to. That licentiousness, that sensuality
that he points to that literally has no restraint. Any sin, any
kind of debauchery, any kind of lewdness and lawlessness is
just exhibited for all the world to see in a careless, callous
way. It goes on to talk about lusts
and drunkenness, overflowing, habitual intoxication, running
the town in a carousal in that public intoxication about which
Paul already addressed. Would have you turn to another
passage? Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four, Paul
will take up this argument once more in another of his epistles
to a city that he had visited to a people that he did know
that from which they were saved. He had visited their city. He
had seen it for himself. And from the very prison. He writes these words, look at
chapter four of Ephesians, verse 17. This I say, therefore, and affirm
together with the Lord that you walk no longer. Just like Peter
says enough is enough. That you walk no longer as the
Gentiles also walk. He’s calling them out of this
lifestyle. Fully and completely. That you
walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk. How? In the futility
of their mind being darkened in their understanding, excluded
from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become
callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice
of every kind of impurity with greediness. They can’t get enough. He calls this lifestyle futility. It’s absolutely perverse and
fruitless. And their entire life is a big,
long series of pretended expectations that never really come to fruition.
They think that it makes them happy, and it doesn’t. They think
that they’re going to find fulfillment. They think that this is fun,
and it’s not. It’s emptiness. It’s absolutely
futile. Look at verse 19, and they, having
become callous, they hardened their heart, did any kind of
moral goodness, any kind of truth. They have become callous and
given themselves over to sensuality. Same word. One pastor describing the nature
of that sin said the apathy which characterized them only induced
a deeper recklessness. The deeper they go, and I can
remember hearing people talk about its life in the fast lane
and you keep You keep going. You keep pressing further. You
keep trying new things because you can’t dare pause and stop. Because to look back, it would
be utterly sickening. They abandoned themselves to
lasciviousness, which is the divine judicial penalty for sin. God literally gave them over. But get this. Why did it get this way? He says, self was the prevailing
power. The gathering in of all possible
objects and enjoyments on oneself was the absorbing occupation.
And isn’t that the occupational hazard of being a human? Every
one of us ought to fear to step into these things. Self was the
prevailing power. The objects and enjoyments of
oneself as the absorbing occupation, the heathen world manifested
the most intense spirit of acquisition, unbounded licentiousness, self
in everything, God in nothing. Well. No wonder Paul in pointing
At the end of that points to the lusts of deceits that had
just literally gripped this entire society in which the Ephesian
church was living. Deceitful lust, and they thought
all the while that they were getting into something good.
As one pastor said, the lust of gain sank into avarice, greed. The power swelling into ruthless
and cruel tyranny, pleasure fell to beastly centralism. Every
strong passion that fills the spirit to the exclusion of God
is a lust. And it gives refined name to
grossness, calling centralism gallantry and it hails good,
pardon me, and it hails drunkenness as mere good cheer. Well, that’s
the society in which you and I live in. Everybody thinks that
they’re having a good time. Everybody thinks that this is
the answer and that if I could only have a little bit more of
that. Let me tell you where it ends. And let me tell you why I think
it’s absolutely crucial that as we look at society, as we
look at these passages, we look at ourselves. We review our own
lives in view of these passages. And perhaps no more frightening
passage of Scripture in this regard than Second Peter, chapter
two. Would you turn there, please?
Second Peter, chapter two. We think of strife and jealousy,
we know what that talks about, fighting, warring, and it’s no
light fare. We’ll take that up next Lord’s
Day. We know what drunkenness looks like. But sensuality, we
we tend to kind of keep that at arm’s distance. And I think
in light of the day in which we live, it’s absolutely crucial
for us to know exactly what he’s referring to here. It’s the catering
to self. And what he points to is the
fact that false teachers are going to come and they will use
this very tool. As a hook to get into people’s
lives. Look at verse one of chapter two. Where Peter wrote that false
prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be
false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive
heresies, even denying the master who brought them, bringing swift
destruction upon themselves. You’ve heard, Paul, when he wrote
to Timothy, that ear tickling that is so common It’s exactly
what he’s pointing to here. How can you how can you get by
introducing things that just aren’t biblical? How many? How
can so many people buy these things? Because there’s another
message that comes alongside of it, and that is that your
sin isn’t so bad. Let me cater to your sensuality.
Let me cater to your pet sins. Look at verse two and many. will
follow after their sensuality and because of them, the way
of truth will be maligned. They won’t even be able to judge
truth from error anymore because it’s so muddied up. And the standard
has been lowered so greatly. And in their greed, they will
exploit you with false words, their judgment from long ago
is not idle, their destruction is not asleep. They stop calling
sin, sin. I don’t know if you know where
I’m headed yet. Stick with me. Watch what happens. Look at their
judgment. Verse four. But if God did not
spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed
them into pits of darkness reserved for judgment, and if God did
not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a preacher of
righteousness with seven others, when he brought upon a flood
upon the world of the ungodly, And if he condemned the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having
made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter,
and if he rescued righteous lot. Now, let me tell you what he’s
doing here. He’s building a case. If God did not spare angels,
he didn’t spare the angels. If God did not spare the ancient
world, he didn’t spare the ancient world. If God preserved Noah,
he did preserve Noah. If God condemned the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah, he did condemn the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And if he rescued Righteous Lot, he did rescue Righteous Lot. From what? If he rescued Righteous
Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men. Let me tell you. The homosexual
agenda in this day and age is absolutely rampant. But if we
put our focus and think that it’s only about homosexuality
we’re missing the point. All that homosexuality and the
embracing the touting the the absolute proliferation of those ideas.
All that’s doing is lowering the moral climate in every other
sphere. And we are as so many frogs in
the kettle. We cannot look at their new standard,
the modern family, the new normal, and judge that as being what’s
good and right and proper. It wasn’t for Noah. It wasn’t
for a lot. And it can’t be for us. It’s
not just about homosexuality. But if they can lower the standard
where that is now, proved and endorsed and good and right and
normal. Think of the moral climate of
the entire rest of the world. If God did all those things and
he did look at verse nine, then the Lord knows how to rescue
the godly. from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under
punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge
in the flesh and its corrupt desires and despise authority. He goes on to talk about these
false teachers in graphic terms that carouse with you, they’re
only in it for themselves. Look at verse 18, speaking out
arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by
sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live
in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves
of corruption. For by what a man is overcome
by this, he is enslaved. He points to the fact that he
mentions in verse two, the sensuality, the varied sins in which they’re
engaged. It isn’t always the case, at
least we don’t always see it. But it isn’t just their doctrine
that is in error. It isn’t just. What they teach
that is heretical, they have heretical lifestyle, they have
heretical morals and they use those heretical morals to draw
people in that now this is permissible. As one said, their excesses were
repeated. Their manner of excesses and
extremes of immorality, these false teachers were antinomians
who relaxed the moral restraints of the gospel on the cravings
of the flesh. What verse seven goes on to point
out, as we saw a lot looking around was so utterly burdened,
burdened by the sodomites around him and the evil lies that continue
to be a burden on him. He couldn’t all couldn’t take
it. It was almost overwhelming to
him. These people with their trickery
will use this sensual lifestyle, this sensuality in their so-called
gospel, this softening of the biblical norm, softening and
dulling of what’s right and wrong. To draw people in. And lead people
astray. and feed them doctrine that now
must be palatable, because it must feed their flesh. Paul says we have to be about
mortifying sin. Sin as Scripture calls it to
be sin. Sin in our own life. And he names
these three sets. We’ll come to the third next
Lord’s Day. But he says, not carousing and drunkenness. That
can’t be named among us. Not in sexual promiscuity and
sensuality. We can’t be just about self.
We can’t be just caring for what we want. We live in a day. It’s a dark day. The dark is coming to an end.
The day is dawning. But make no mistake, it is still
very dark and we have every need, every cause to put on the armor
of light. We have need every day to come
to Christ and to cry out to him for grace, to live in the midst
of this ungodly society, to live as children of light, to proclaim
the gospel, to take the opportunity not to lower the standard and
not to have the standard lowered around us. but to graciously
and clearly call out, to name sin as sin, and to flee from
it ourselves in our own life, and to call others out by the
same grace with which we have tasted. Let’s go before Him in
prayer. Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves before You as You have so graciously drawn so many of
us out of some of these terrible sins. Lord God, we thank You and praise
You. We know that we could not have
rescued ourselves. We were dead in our trespasses
and sins. But what we could not do, You
did. You sent Your Son. You paid our penalty. And through
the process of regeneration, You awakened us He showed us
our sin and called us from our sin to salvation. Father, grant
us the grace that we would do likewise for those who live in
darkness even still. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray.
Amen.