Awake, Sleeper! Pt 5

The Saints would take their copy
of the Scriptures and turn once again. To the book of Romans
to Chapter 13 Romans. Chapter 13. We continue to find
ourselves in this. Very lengthy section, which actually
began back in Chapter 12, where Paul is exhorting us to live
with a variety of different people. in a Christian manner, living
with Christians, living with those who are downtrodden, living
even with the civil government. And Paul provides here in this
section the motivation for that. The firm, sound motivation for
living with a variety of different people. For the sake of honoring God’s
word, And for the sake of setting, resetting the context, if you
would pick up in verse 8 of chapter 13. Where Paul writes, Oh, nothing to anyone
except to love one another. For he who loves his neighbor
has fulfilled the law. For this, you shall not commit
adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall
not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is summed
up in this saying. You shall love your neighbor
as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment
of the law. And 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 believe. 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 regard to its lusts. Paul provides there the
motivation. For dealing with others. He had
given us the instructions beginning in chapter 12, verse nine, with
all kinds of different people, groups, everything from unbelievers,
civil government, Christians, even those who are at odds with
us for some cause. But here he provides the motivation
and in essence, he says, you’re late. It’s already time to be
about those things, in fact, The time to deal with people
as Christians is drawing to a close. The sun is cresting towards the
horizon. It is still night. We still have
not only opportunity, we have challenge. But the day is coming. And that’s Paul’s point in verse
12. It is still dark. We do need
the armor of light. We do have opportunity. We do
have challenge in this day and age in which we live. But one day those opportunities
are going to come to an end. And it is a glorious thing. And
we rejoice to see that day. We long to see that day. The
day when either we die and go to be with Christ in glory or
Christ returns. We long for that day. Either
way, the day is coming. And the day of opportunity is
fleeting. That’s Paul’s point in verses
12 through 14, and we’ve begun to look at them. I suggested
to you an overall title is would be for urgencies that are prompted
by the hour at hand for things that we are urged to do simply
because the alarm clock has already gone off and we are late. The hour at hand, as we have
seen, motivates our very duty to others, as we looked at in
verse 12. The hour at hand admonishes us
to spiritual readiness. Also there in verse 12. The night
is almost gone, the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside
the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. The hour
at hand urges us to mortify our sin, and this is where we left
off last Lord’s Day. I don’t even have time for a
review this morning of what we talked about last week. But essentially,
Paul begins to address things that long since should have been
left behind. Long since in our calling and
walking with Christ, long since should have been dealt with,
we long since should have put to death these sins, and yet
he addresses these even with yet again, just like with the
Corinthians. Just like with the Ephesian church,
just like with the Thessalonians, he addresses these things once
again, even to believers. Let us behave properly. There’s
a right way to behave. He points to the fact that we
should be living as if it’s day, it’s not day once again. Paul
points out the fact that there will be a day of glory. We will
be perfected in Christ when we reach heaven. But now is not
that day, but it’s already time to be living in that manner. What exactly is Paul looking
for? We looked at two couplets last week, and I would just have
you notice as you observe these, that the cause is actually listed
secondly. The cause, if you will, as he
lists it, secondly, essentially points back to the first, the
symptom. You would think that Paul would
say drunkenness and carousing, drunkenness leading to carousing,
sensuality leading to sexual promiscuity, jealousy leading
to strife. What Paul does here is he points
to the worst case scenario and then he points directly at the
cause. We looked at two of them last
week. That carousing running about the town in a drunken stupor
tearing up not only the town but people’s lives in the process.
Paul says you long since should have mortified that terrible
sin. Sensuality. that leads to sexual
promiscuity that sexual promiscuity should have long since been dealt
with. It should be put to death if it hasn’t been today is the
day Paul says. But he takes up a third and as
he does I would remind you where we are this passage as I suggested
the last several weeks is the quintessential summary of Paul’s
thought. You could almost say you could
almost distill everything that Paul has ever said and roll it
into these verses. And say that this is really the
essence of what Paul would say. I pointed out that you have the
Christian theme. The Christian walk that is part
and parcel of what Paul teaches throughout his epistles. Some
of his most important subjects, the subject of sanctification,
which Paul never really gets completely away from, does he? Some of his most frequently used
metaphors, light and dark night and day, some of his most oft
repeated words, sensuality, strife, drunkenness, some of his most
recurring warnings, the deeds of the flesh and some of his
most regularly uttered exhortations put off and put on, Paul says,
We’re late. If we find ourselves in Christ
and we still have not dealt with those things, we are late and
it’s past time that we deal with them. And so we come to that third
couplet, and I’ll touch on this briefly because I really do intend
to get to and wrap up with verse 14. He comes to that third couplet. And in comparison, to carousing
and drunkenness, sexual promiscuity and sensuality, these seem minor. Strife and jealousy. Bickering,
fighting. Jealousy. Wishing that you had
something that somebody else didn’t. These seem minor. But
rather than creating a different category for strife and jealousy,
What Paul does in blending it in with those other sins is really
point out the true nature of strife and jealousy that it is
a heinous sin. It is a terrible and destructive
sin, especially in the church. What he addresses here. Is sins
of the temper that are all lumped in with sins of the flesh. These
are the passions that break out in a person’s life and they issue
forth ultimately impersonal disputes or even petty quarrels that end
up dividing groups of people. Strife, we see it frequently
in the scriptures, just points to dissension. Trouble, discord,
quarreling, wrangling, fighting, all of those things. And for
any of us to sit in this room and to think that that’s not
such a big thing. Is really naive. It is displeasing
to God. Look at the company with which
strife occurs. I’ll come back to that thought
in a moment. What Paul points to here are
the contentions that he found in almost every church to which
he wrote every church in which he ministered. It was one of
the troubling features of life in the early church, the contention
that would boil forth and ultimately issue in strife, even. Tearing apart the very work of
God. These contentions that would
exist between various groups, factions in the church. Would
divide and tear apart lives and people. That was all brought
on by jealousy. Just as drunkenness leads to
carousing and sensuality leads to sexual promiscuity, jealousy
is what provokes strife. James said it simply, you do
not have. So you fight and quarrel. We want what we want, regardless
of what God has to say about the matter. Jealousy just points
to rivalry, as one described it, an intense feeling, usually
eager desire of some kind, where here the unfriendly feeling excited
by another’s possession of good. That’s jealousy. Goes on to say it is the eager
desire possession created by the spectacle of another’s possession. You see what you think someone
has or what you see graphically, they do possess. You want what
they have and that leads to strife. It’s a really simple equation,
isn’t it? Come back to that in a moment
as well. With Paul. Does here in pointing
out strife he points out one of the most destructive forces
in the world. Not only between nations between
states between churches between groups of all different kinds
between nationalities. Between individuals even individuals
under the same roof strife strife is never. to be a good strife
is never to be something we overlook or downplay as being, you know,
just one of those things. Let me tell you where Paul part
the concept of strife. I want you to listen in your
mind’s eye. Listen in your mind’s eye to what Paul described the
heathen nations. And he did so in Romans chapter
one, just listen. Just as they did not see fit
to give to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to
a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper, being filled
with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder,
strife. Deceit, malice, they are gossip,
slanders, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors
of evil, disobedient to parents without understanding, untrustworthy,
unloving, unmerciful. If you think strife is no big
deal, You’re at odds with the Apostle Paul, you’re at odds
with God. Strife is a terrible thing. It’s a contentious spirit. It
is a quarrelsome attitude of heart and mind. James. In his epistle says, who among
you is wise and understanding, he says, there’s two different
kinds of wisdom, there’s wisdom that’s from God and there’s wisdom
As we would craft it. Wisdom that caters to the flesh,
wisdom that caters to me in what I want. Who among you is wise and understanding,
let him show by his good behavior, his deeds in the gentleness of
wisdom. You say you’re wise, let’s see
your life. But James immediately counters
and says, but if you have bitter jealousy, and selfish ambition
in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is
earthly, natural, demonic. We play into the devil’s hand
when we give in to jealousy. For where jealousy and selfish
ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. So for
us, for just even a moment, to pause and say, yes, drunkenness
and carousing, that’s Bad, very bad and sensuality and sexual
promiscuity, all bad, even worse. But strife and jealousy really
don’t belong in this list. They absolutely do. One described. This bitterness,
this bitter jealousy in these terms, he said it originates
in bitter feelings, not in attachment to truth, but in opposition to
persons. In selfish, ambitious, crooked
designs, its root is evil. It appears in bitter actings,
venting itself in speeches, fitting to wound, alienate, exasperate. It scatters firebrands, reckless
feelings and consequences. It issues in bitter results,
causing conflicts, separations and manifold evils. So to say that strife. Jealousy. is no big deal. This is to play
into the devil’s hand. This is to give over in selfish
ambition in what we want. That really allows us to do anything
to get it. Including strife, including causing
division. Including tearing apart the very
work of Christ itself. Strife and jealousy. One pastor characterized these.
This couplet, strife and jealousy, when he said persistent contention,
bickering, petty disagreement, enmity, antagonistic competitiveness
that fights to have its own way, regardless of cost to itself
or harm to others, has produced by a deep desire to prevail over
others to gain the highest prestige, prominence and recognition as
possible. That’s ultimately the goal of
jealousy. You want what they want, and
so you bite and devour. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
Paul’s heart in that second epistle was, if you will, it was breaking
in two. He feared to go back to the church
of Corinth because of what he might find. He had heard of all
the party spirit. He had heard of all the factions.
He had heard of all the bickering and fighting. He had heard of
all the different groups. Paul feared to go back to the
church of Corinth, and here’s what he said in Chapter 12. I
might. I am afraid that perhaps when
I come, I may find you to be not what I wish and maybe found
you not what you wish, but that perhaps there will be strife,
jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance,
disturbances. I’m afraid that when I come again,
my God may humiliate me before you and may mourn over many who
have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality,
sensuality, which they have practiced. Paul said, Look, I fear the greatest
fear is that I might come back to the church of Corinth and
might find you not having dealt with sin, including jealousy
and strife. These warnings. These warnings,
when they’re given, they’re not given just to the Corinthians.
They’re given to us. Paul says, don’t think light
of jealousy in your own heart towards another brother. Don’t
think light in your heart to those little eruptions, even
in your family. Don’t think light of strife. It is to open the door to the
devil himself, to tear apart whatever he will. These warnings
They’re given to us. They’re given to us who have
made a profession of faith. We have named the name of Christ. We want to follow him in faith.
What Paul does in pointing to that, he points to the fact that
this is this is a spiritual wickedness, a force of incredible power. And if we catch sight of it,
we must deal with it. As we have said about these other
two couplets, we must put it to death. One pastor said to make a holy
church. Out of heathen. And in the midst
of heathenism was impossible to any but an almighty arm. And
we know that the work of sanctification of the individual or of a community,
even omnipotence works gradually. No wonder when Paul said to the
Roman church who had named the name of Christ, put aside drunkenness
and carousing, put aside sensuality that leads to sexual promiscuity,
put aside jealousy that leads to strife. We know why he spoke
to them, because he would likewise speak to us. And he must. The work goes on, the work continues.
And thankfully, Paul comes to what I would say is the fourth
and last urgency that is prompted by the hour at hand. The hour
at hand not only motivates our very duty to others. Verse 11. The hour at hand admonishes us
to spiritual readiness. Verse 12. It urges us to mortify
sin. Verse 13. And it beckons us to
Christ-likeness. Verse 14. Look at verse 14. Where Paul says, the Lord Jesus
Christ and make no provision in regards to its loss. If we’re going to be ready. With
the fleeting hour that we have the gospel window of opportunity
closing and fleeting our own lives. Ticking away like so many
clocks. The Lord Jesus Christ waiting
in the wings to return at any moment. The day of opportunity
is fleeting. And if we are going to be what
God has called us to be, then this fourth is absolutely crucial
because it beckons us to be like Christ. That’s what we’re called
to be. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And make no provision
for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Paul uses this idea, put
off, put on, almost like he’s changing jackets or robes. For
the idea, turn very briefly to Ephesians, Chapter four, Ephesians,
Chapter four. In Ephesians, Chapter four, Paul
takes up this same theme. This put off, put on. And we
pick it up in verse 20, but you did not learn Christ in this
way, contrasting with the evil world of the heathen, if indeed
you have heard him and have been taught in him, just as truth
is in Jesus. In other words, what Paul says
here in short form is the same God that initiates the work of
salvation will continue it in the process of sanctification. Truth is in Jesus that in reference
to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self uses
a different image there. Lay aside the old self, take
the jacket off, take off those clothes and put on a different
set of clothes. Lay aside the old self, which
is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, that
word corruption. None of us would want anything
to do with something that is corrupted. Several weeks ago,
I got into the refrigerator and I made my oatmeal and I didn’t
check the milk. There isn’t any one of us that
would want to drink bad milk. That’s the word here. This isn’t
just something that is Getting a little threadbare in spots.
This is something that is utterly putrid. We wouldn’t even consider
picking it up and putting it on. Lay aside the old self, which
is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit and
that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new
self. Which in the likeness of God
has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. He
says, take up this great cause of sanctification. You yield
it to Christ in faith. Finish the work. Pursue Christ. Yield to Him in every area of
your life. Chase out those sinful tendencies. Chase out those evil deeds. Put
them to death. Call out to Christ in faith.
And walk and apply new measures of grace. Paul says the same
thing to the Colossians in 310. Put on the new self. We’ll come
back to that passage in a moment. That put off, put on theme is
carried on in the book of Ephesians. We looked at this passage several
weeks ago, put on the full armor of God. Ephesians 611. In 614, he says, stand firm,
therefore, having girded your loins with truth, having put
on the breastplate of righteousness. To the Thessalonians, he said
in much more brief fashion, since we are of the day, let us be
sober, sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love
and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. Put off, put on. When God calls us to walk with
him, He does so just as Paul commended to the Thessalonians,
that they turned from their evil deeds, from idols to Christ. You can’t be one without the
other. You can’t hold on to the idols and turn to God. You can’t
turn to Christ and yearn for godliness and maintain a firm
grip on your sin. And so Paul says it here, Quite
simply and clearly, what is the great means of this? What does
he want us to put on? Doesn’t just want us to get dressed
up for church, he wants us to dress up in Christ, put on the
Lord Jesus Christ, it’s an incredible image. We already know from Romans
six, remember that incredible passage that we have been baptized,
immersed into Christ, placed into him, his very person. If you are a Christian, you are
very and really in Christ. But here he says, do it again. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. What he points to here is the
fact that our Savior is our soul’s encouragement. It is our soul’s
life. It is our soul’s armor. It is
our soul’s very being. To be in Christ and to be part
of Him and like Him. To be known by Him and beheld
by Him and loved by Him and received by Him is to be where we were
designed to be all along, right? There were some. That I think
incorrectly referred to this idea as a robe, like as in the
idea of justifying righteousness, where we are to put on the robe
of righteousness. But the believer already possession
possesses the robe of righteousness, he stood before God with his
own righteousness and found it to be absolutely worthless. We stood before God and we lacked
what we needed most. The righteousness of God. And
Paul says in the Gospel, it is provided. It is given to us.
All of our sin is taken and placed on Christ. And in place, His
righteousness is placed upon us. We are not made righteous. That’s the process of sanctification
which Paul calls us to here. Take up that great cause Sanctification
take up that great cause of becoming practically righteous and practically
holy. It is the daily dawning of the
character of Christ that he’s pointing to here, it’s the process
of sanctification. Some others refer to it as your
initial conversion of baptism. It’s not pointing to baptism
here, it’s not pointing to our justification by faith, There
are other passages that point and allude to that process. Job
29, 14, I put on righteousness and it clothed me. Psalm 132,
9 of the Levitical priest, let your priest be clothed with righteousness. But if you placed your faith
in Jesus Christ for salvation, you’ve already done that. You
already stand in the righteousness of Christ. God already looks
at you and he sees nothing but the righteousness of his beloved
son. You’ve taken off the robe of
sin, you’ve put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness. That’s
what Paul is talking about there in Galatians 3.27, when he says,
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself
with Christ. But the believer has already
done that. He’s already put on Christ by
virtue of that decision that faith in Christ by putting on
Christ here has a completely different sense. Putting on Christ
here is to embrace Christ again and again to place our faith
in him anew every morning, as one said, in grateful loyalty
and obedience to him to whom we already belong. It is to wake
up and to yearn and to desire and by grace to place ourselves
all over again. Into the life of our precious
Savior. As one said, it means to follow
him the way of discipleship. To strive to let our lives be
molded according to the pattern of humility of his earthly life.
so trusting in Him and relying wholly upon the status of righteousness
before God that we cannot help but live to please Him. That’s
what it is to put on Christ. And it isn’t just external. It
isn’t as some kind of article of clothing. It is a daily renewal. A desire to walk with Christ
in newness every single day. As one faithful pastor said,
it refers to character. To put on Christ is to clothe
ourselves with all the graces which adorned his character,
to become his living images, to reflect his excellencies as
mirrors, to speak as he spoke, to act as he acted, to suffer
as he suffered, to live as he lived. The mind that was in him
must be in us. Put on Pardon me, Christ put
on man that man might put on Christ. What a powerful statement.
Christ took on flesh and took on our sin upon Him so that one
day we could take on the fullness of Christ. Paul is addressing this precisely
in another place. Would God’s people please turn
to Colossians chapter 3. Right next door to Ephesians.
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, chapter 3. I told you we’d come back to
this passage. Here we are. Paul begins by addressing, and
it’s not astounding to hear him say this. Do not lie to one another. What? Certainly, we’re beyond that
now, Paul, we’ve you’re writing to the Colossian church. These
are saints of God. If we do a lot more of this than
we ever are willing to admit, that’s a lie in and of itself,
isn’t it? Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old
self with which with its evil practices and had put on the
new self who is being renewed to a new knowledge, a true knowledge,
according to the image of the one who created it. Our pattern
is Jesus Christ. That’s what he says. A renewal
in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised
and uncircumcised, barbarians, Scythians, slaves, freemen, but
Christ is all and in all. So as those who have been chosen
of God, holy and beloved, put on and he begins with the character
of Christ. Put on a heart of compassion.
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one
another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against
anyone. Just as the Lord forgave you,
so also should you. Beyond all these things, put
on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. He says, He says here what he
says in Romans 13, we if we are in Christ. We should look differently. We are no longer that old self,
we have put on the new self and the new self looks like and acts
like and talks like and thinks like. The Lord Jesus Christ,
and I love the fact that he uses that full term for Christ. I don’t know when it happened.
I used to say that it happened, started happening in the 70s.
Maybe it’s always been this way where people just casually refer
to the Savior as Jesus. And I’m not saying. That to ever
utter that word alone is wrong, but I’m saying that there is
an attitude that makes him like a casual party buddy. where Paul here says, put on
the Lord, the exalted Lord of all the universe, the One who
has not only created all things, but sits in sovereignty over
all things. Put on the Lord Jesus, the Messiah,
the One who came for that very purpose. Put on the Lord Jesus
Christ. What Paul points to here is that
we are to take on, take on the character of Christ by God’s
grace. To be holy as I am holy, as Peter exhorted. It’s the full
Christian character that God calls us to here. And if we don’t have an idea
yet of what Paul’s talking about, Paul has one final approach. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is the flip side of that equation, make no provision
for the flesh in regards to its lusts. This is, if you will,
the negative, the flip side. When he talks about the flesh
here, it points to our entire human nature that the tendency
towards sin, the fallenness of our nature. Essentially, The
part of our being that is engaged in a deadly battle with God himself. Don’t provide for the flesh.
Don’t feed the flesh. Don’t cater to the desires of
the flesh. Now, mind you. Don’t be overly
literal here, because this morning, almost every one of us has provided
for the flesh, right? We got up. We had something to
eat. We had coffee. We had some food,
some kind of sustenance, most of us. There, most of you just did it
again, just by blinking, you provided for the flesh, your
eyes, if you didn’t blink, would dry out there, you did it again.
Every breath you take, you’re providing for the flesh, right?
In a way here, Paul is saying that it’s impossible not to provide
for the flesh, but what he’s pointing to is the sinful desires
of the flesh. We’re going to leave off. We
are to recognize what sin is, and we are to leave off cultivating
and providing for those sinful desires anymore. We’re not to
make provision for it. We’re not to care for it. We’re
not to plan for it. We’re not to make excuses for
it. We’re not to cultivate it as a lifestyle. Make no provision for the flesh
in regards to its lusts. Now, mind you, Even this word
is not a bad word when we hear the word lust. We naturally think
of evilness and evil desires and it certainly can mean that
and it certainly means that here. But Paul uses it in a positive
way when he says he who desires the office of an overseer desires
lust after a good thing. So it really is the object here
that characterize it. It’s the context that sets The
meaning of this word in here, Paul points clearly to evil desires
and he says you can’t craft out a life based on planning and
catering to those whims of the flesh. Don’t set up an account
on your computer that allows only you the access. I remember
one time I went to buy a roll top desk, right? I was looking
at it. I didn’t buy it. And it had all
these secret compartments. I wonder. Why on earth do you
need all those secret compartments? We have a lot of secret compartments
in our life, don’t we? We have a tendency to do this
in public and that behind. Paul basically points here to
the tendency that we all have. To cater to self, to indulge
in those desires, those appetites. And Paul says, take every opportunity
to mine out every possibility where this kind of thing might
exist and do away with it. Burn the bridge. As one pastor
said, they should go forth to walk worthy of their heavenly
calling, they should identify themselves wholly with Christ
in every purpose and act, putting on his perfectness of character
and make no provision for gratifying the sensual desires and appetites
by which they were formerly controlled. Don’t plan for sin. Don’t give
in to sin. Don’t welcome it. Don’t offer
it an opportunity. As one guy said it, I loved it.
Kick sin off the doorstep. Kick sin off the doorstep and
you won’t have it in your house. You see, the problem is a lot
of us invite them in. We say, come on in. Hide for
a season in the closet. Hide. for a season over in that
room or in this space. Kill it. That’s what Paul would say. Kick
it off the doorstep. In closing, I want to just address
very briefly. How this one passage affected
one man who probably has as much, if not more influence on the
church in the entire history of the church outside of. Paul
and the characters of Scripture. Augustine. Augustine read this
verse Augustine was saved through this verse. If you’re not familiar
with Augustine, he was born in 354 A.D., so I’ll excuse some
of your unfamiliarity with him. Augustine’s an interesting character
in that both the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church
lay claim to him because essentially that’s where the church began
to divide and. Diverge. Augustine was born. Of mixed parentage his mother
was a Christian his father was not and that would have heavy
impact on his life. He was a brilliant scholar ultimately
he was appointed to a professorship of rhetoric in Milan. And he
began to do a great series of studies and writing and working
and he gained notoriety and fame and renown. We know of Augusta
now. After his conversion and because
of his work by God’s grace in instructing the church. As one
characterized, it is hard to imagine the importance of Augustine’s
contribution to Christian theology and the church. This was a an
amazing man of God. But not always. He goes on and says Augustine’s
influence lived on Augustine’s influence, lived on perhaps more
than any other non-biblical figure through his writings. They gave
form to the best of the church’s life during the Middle Ages and
were in a sense the true foundation of the church. Well he goes on to point out
that aside from as one deemed him aside from the apostle Paul
and Luther the reformer the greatest man in the Christian church is
possessed. I think we should know more about
Augustine. He wrote four primary works. One was called on Christian doctrine. Another was called on the Holy
Trinity. Most of you would be familiar
with the work that he did on the city of God, which he used
the imagery of two rival cities. One that was formed cities that
were formed by two different loves the love of self. And the
contempt of God or those that had the love of God and the contempt
of evil. And then his fourth work was
a little work called Confessions, and it essentially is his testimony.
It’s an amazing thing. Short chapters, but it basically
tells the story about how God led him from grace to faith.
And most of us would be familiar. We refer to it as the God shaped
vacuum. You know who coined that thought?
Augustine. On the very opening page of his
confessions, he said, Thou hast formed us for thyself and our
hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee. We refer
to it as a God shaped vacuum. Augustine said it much more delicately. Augustine found that youthful
pleasures didn’t satisfy his desires. He found himself empty. regardless of all the indulgences
that he had treated himself to, regardless of the fact that he
had an incredible intellect and pursued all kinds of different
philosophical systems. At the end of it, he found them
empty and void and without any merit for the real true questions
of his soul. One wrote of him, Augustine did
not find the incarnation of Jesus or the atonement in their writings. He did not find the gospel. Therefore,
he did not find forgiveness for his sins and his heart remained
restless because it did not come to rest in God. And even though he had achieved
fame, he found that worthless as well. Until finally he came. To know
a man named Ambrose, who was not only wise, he was godly and
he was an incredible preacher of the gospel. That wooed Augustine
in and Augustine began to find himself entertaining the gospel
of Christ, but completely unable to place his faith in Christ.
In fact, even unwilling. He would read the Bible and he
knew what he wanted, but he couldn’t lay hold and seize hold of it. Of those particular days, Augustine
wrote to the showing me on every side, though what thou said was
true, I convicted by the truth had nothing to reply, but the
drawing and drowsy words presently low presently. Leave me a little
while, but presently presently. Had no present. Do you hear what
he’s saying? He longed to be with Christ and
he couldn’t. He looked. He looked to his past
and observed. But I miserable young man, supremely
miserable, even at the very outset of my youth, had entered chastity
of the had entreated chastity of thee and said, Grant me chastity
and continency, but not yet. If you’re unfamiliar with those
words, what he basically says is, God, please give me purity
in a little while. Let me sin a while longer. And
all the while he longed to be rid of his sin, he couldn’t find
a way. Until finally, one day. He was at a friend’s house. And
he was so convicted and so overwhelmed by his sin and sinful condition
that he withdrew to the quietest part of the garden so that he
could weep freely and not be found by his friend. He records his conversion. I flung myself down. How, I know
not. Under a certain fig tree, giving
free course to my tears. And not indeed in these words,
yet to this effect, I spoke much unto thee. But thou, O Lord,
how long? How long, O Lord, will thou be
angry forever? Oh, remember not against us former
iniquities, for I felt I was enthralled by them. Why not now? Why is there not this hour an
end to my uncleanness? He longed to be with Christ. I was saying these things and
weeping, and in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when,
lo, I heard a voice, a boy or a girl, I do not know which,
coming up from a neighboring house, chanting and frequently
repenting, Take up and read. Take up and read. Immediately,
my countenance was changed and I began most earnestly to consider
whether it was usual for children in any kind of game to sing such
words. I could not remember I’ve ever
heard the like. So restraining the torrent of
my tears, I rose up interpreting it no other way than as a command
for me from heaven to open the book and to read the first chapter
I should light upon. I had heard coming while the
gospel was being read. Receive the admonition as if
what was read was addressed to him. Go and sell all that you
have and give to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven
and come and follow me. So quickly, I returned to the
place where I had been, but there I had put down the volume of
the apostles. When I rose, I grasped and opened
and in silence I read that paragraph. on which my eyes first fell.
Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. With the saints bow before God. Our merciful God, You have done
such a work in each believer’s life in this room. It may have
been a different passage, but you have used the very word of
God sharper than any two edged sword and you have pierced us.
And you have shown to us our desperate need of Jesus Christ. Father, we entered into faith,
we placed our faith in the only Savior that we could ever know.
He began to change us. He granted to us righteousness. Father, we would do it all over
again. And that’s what Paul calls us to. To put on Christ. To put him on new and fresh every
day. And our merciful God. Because
we know that there are Augustans in the world. We know that there
are such even in this room. who have entertained Christ and
thought about Christ and read about Christ, but have never yielded in faith. Our merciful God, we pray that
this would be the day. We pray that You would break
down any barrier, break their hearts, draw them to faith in
You. That the Lord Jesus Christ may
be as real to them this very day as He is to us That they
too would find themselves now placed on the journey of journeys. A life of faith, a life of godliness. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We rejoice in your goodness in providing such to us. It’s in
Jesus name that we pray.