Dale Partridge - Romans 13_11-12 Christian Time Management

00:00:00.000 Amen. We'll open up your Bibles to Romans 13. We are going to finish. This is the last two

00:00:10.860 sermons on this passage of Scripture. And then we're going to shift from Romans 13 to an eight

00:00:21.320 week section on eschatology. And eschatology is the doctrine of end things and times. And

00:00:32.280 we're going to really give an overview of the three prominent views and the view that our

00:00:39.140 church holds and why you could spend a year or two talking about eschatology. But we're going

00:00:45.720 to just do a small primer. And we'll do that for a few weeks, about two months. And then I'll get

00:00:51.220 back into Romans 14, 15, and 16, and we will be done with Romans after, I started Romans

00:00:57.960 over two years ago when we started in a house down in Cottonwood. And so it's a real wonder

00:01:05.960 that we're this far along in this book of the Bible. And so it's a real blessing to get to

00:01:12.740 preach the rest of Romans 13. If you look at Romans 13 today, we've covered a lot of ground.

00:01:21.220 It's the famous government chapter that we turn to when we're speaking about civil government.

00:01:27.200 It was a very popular passage of Scripture during the COVID era.

00:01:31.980 We've discussed the intersection of family, the church, and the state, how those relate to one another properly.

00:01:39.060 We saw how, when I did a sermon on the theology of authority, talking about how Christ reclaimed the authority that Adam lost in the fall.

00:01:50.000 and why we should submit to the governing authorities now, because essentially all

00:01:55.500 authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Christ. And we also talked about when it's

00:02:02.900 appropriate to rebel against authority that has turned into tyranny. And so we talked about all

00:02:10.080 of those matters in the first section of Romans 13. Now, the section on submitting to civil

00:02:18.740 authorities, it ended with a variety of obligations that we owe to the civil government.

00:02:27.060 We owed these rulers honor and taxes and reverence.

00:02:31.860 But last week we shifted, we saw Paul shift from the obligations to civil governments

00:02:37.200 to the obligations to one another.

00:02:40.500 And Paul said, owe no one anything except to love one another.

00:02:46.560 For he who loves one another has fulfilled the law.

00:02:50.380 Now, as we discussed last week, Paul is not forbidding lending or borrowing or going into debt.

00:03:00.120 Instead, he was emphasizing this principle.

00:03:03.540 Don't borrow if you cannot pay it back.

00:03:07.140 And the only exception is the debt of love, which you can never pay back.

00:03:13.860 that was the expositional we pulled out of that particular text and so it wasn't talking about

00:03:21.660 you can't borrow we know that jesus affirms borrowing and lending he tells us to lend when

00:03:26.640 we have opportunity to do so no it was really talking about have integrity when you do borrow

00:03:33.660 and when you do lend and two that the only exception of a debt that you cannot repay

00:03:39.020 is the debt of love, which you will never be able to repay. In other words, debts like honor or

00:03:45.780 reverence or taxation are, these are owed to the civil authorities and they can be completely

00:03:52.920 settled. You can settle accounts with the civil government, but the debt of love that we owe to

00:04:00.080 one another because of the gospel that's been given to us in Christ can never be completely

00:04:04.840 settled. It's something that we cannot settle. It will always be in debt because of the great love

00:04:11.060 that's been extended to us in Christ. Now, our fallen nature, because we're, again, saints who

00:04:17.700 sin, it prevents us from completely fulfilling that obligation of love to one another.

00:04:24.000 and so as a result the debt remains an ongoing duty for us to pay now paul connects this debt

00:04:35.360 of love with fulfilling the law that love fulfills the law well we talked about the first and second

00:04:41.920 tables of the law right the first four commandments of the ten commandments are how we relate to god

00:04:46.840 and the the last six commandments are how we relate to one another and all of them will be

00:04:52.240 kept if you love them. If you love God and you love others, you'll keep every law because you

00:04:56.980 won't steal. You won't lie. You won't commit adultery. You won't take the Lord's name in

00:05:01.500 vain. You'll honor your parents. Why? Because you love. If you love people, you'll fulfill the law.

00:05:09.060 Now, again, we cannot fulfill the law on a macro level.

00:05:14.940 Our love is not sufficient for that, but we can fulfill the law on a micro level. Let me explain

00:05:19.400 that. Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf on a macro level. The love of God, the perfect

00:05:27.820 love of God that has fulfilled the law to love God and love neighbor perfectly has been imputed

00:05:33.220 to us. It's given to us. It's transferred to us. And we receive that by faith. Romans 13, 10 said,

00:05:43.480 love is the fulfilling of the law. Love is the fulfilling of the law.

00:05:50.700 If you want to fulfill the law, love people, love God, love neighbor, and then all the Ten

00:05:56.760 Commandments follow after that. And as a result, we're able to love one another.

00:06:05.820 And the way we can love one another is only because, 1 John 4, 19 says, we love because

00:06:12.700 he first loved us. Why do you love people? It's because Christ has given his love to

00:06:20.260 you. And why does a particular person not love? It's because they haven't experienced

00:06:27.120 the love of God. When you look at some sort of perverted or twisted relationship that's

00:06:32.660 pagan, and they say that they love one another, they don't love one another. They have an 0.88

00:06:39.200 affection, a lust for one another. But love requires an

00:06:44.160 eternal perspective. Love requires a care for God and a

00:06:50.320 care for one another. It's a holy love. So what they're

00:06:55.200 experiencing is maybe a worldly love or a perverted or

00:06:59.000 distorted form of love, but it's not love. The whole kind of

00:07:03.220 mantra, love is love. No, that's not true. God is love. God

00:07:08.820 has defined love and how we are to love as a result of a relationship with God. Our love

00:07:15.580 on its own cannot fulfill the law or make us righteous, as we've talked about. It's merely

00:07:21.460 a response to the love of God in Christ. Now, His love enables us to live in a way that reflects

00:07:29.640 the love of God. Whenever you love, you don't say, oh, pat on the back. No, whenever you do

00:07:36.800 righteousness, you don't say pat on the back. There's an old

00:07:40.860 phrase in the business world. It's when your company succeeds,

00:07:45.000 you look out the window. And when your company fails, you look in the mirror.

00:07:50.460 The same can be applied to the reality of God

00:07:52.780 is that when you obey, you go, praise be to God.

00:07:57.000 All glory be to Christ for the obedience, for the conviction of sin that you've given to me.

00:08:01.500 And when you fail, you get to look in the mirror.

00:08:04.160 Oh, Lord, forgive me.

00:08:08.060 If you want to be able to say all glory be to Christ, then when you love someone unconditionally,

00:08:12.480 when you extend that love to another, then you get to thank God.

00:08:16.840 Because without the love of God, you would not be able to do that in another person's life.

00:08:23.920 Just like a lamp can only shine when it's connected to a power source, to electricity,

00:08:29.480 We can only fulfill the law when we're connected to Christ because we have the currency of love.

00:08:37.700 Now, I know it can be difficult to follow the outline of Paul's letters,

00:08:40.940 but we're not going to be immature believers that don't know how to study our Bibles.

00:08:45.640 We're going to learn how to follow along grammatically, historically, culturally, contextually.

00:08:51.280 It can seem like Paul is maybe shifting through unrelated or independent topics.

00:08:55.740 He's not. He's not.

00:08:57.620 in the same way that he shifted from calling for obedience to the civil servants

00:09:02.860 to the obedience of love toward one another, now he's making another shift.

00:09:07.540 Today, we're going to see him shift from the obligation of obedience

00:09:10.480 to the urgency of obedience.

00:09:13.720 Urgency of obedience.

00:09:18.100 He says in verse 11, actually I'll read verse 11 and 12.

00:09:22.660 and do this knowing the time that now it is high time to wake up out of sleep

00:09:32.360 for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed the night is far spent the day

00:09:40.040 is at hand therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light

00:09:46.300 now interestingly esv new king james nasb have translated this start off of this passage all

00:09:57.220 differently um one says do this another one says besides this and one says and for this

00:10:03.020 so in the greek it says and this okay and this so it could say and this knowing the time

00:10:13.200 that now it is high time to wake up out of sleep.

00:10:17.300 I want to take a minute just to look at the grammar, okay?

00:10:20.380 We are going to be smart Bible interpreters in this church,

00:10:23.180 and I think if we have the foundation of that here while we're small,

00:10:27.920 then in a couple years, Lord willing, we have another hundred people here,

00:10:32.060 we will have a robust community where our kids and our grandkids

00:10:35.640 know how to interpret the Scriptures

00:10:36.740 because the parents understood basic fundamentals of grammar.

00:10:41.260 now I want you to look at this word this this word this it's a demonstrative pronoun

00:10:50.200 if you're a homeschool mom you've probably sung the song this that these those this that right

00:10:58.160 okay this is a demonstrative pronoun and demonstrative pronouns are talking about

00:11:07.900 near and far. This, that, this, that, right? Now, one of the key principles of interpretation

00:11:16.360 of the Bible or any text is determining the object of a pronoun.

00:11:22.880 What is the object? What is the this that he's talking about? If I said, John ran down the street

00:11:29.460 and he went and got it, or if I say, you know, John hit the ball and he went and got the ball.

00:11:35.940 Well, what's the object of the pronoun he?

00:11:40.700 Well, it's John.

00:11:42.460 We know that.

00:11:43.820 So we want to assign who or what is being represented by the pronoun.

00:11:52.380 So this, what is the this in this particular sentence?

00:11:59.980 Now, Paul does this quite often.

00:12:01.920 I know this because I study a lot of Pauline writing but Paul does this quite often and I

00:12:09.520 think the most famous or notable example of it is Ephesians 2 8 through 9 I want you to turn

00:12:15.600 there in your Bible if you have a second Ephesians 2 8 through 9 Paul says for by grace you have been

00:12:25.340 saved through faith. And this, your Bible might say, and that, it's the same Greek word, and this

00:12:35.500 is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no man may boast.

00:12:43.520 Okay, in both passages, we're dealing with the same Greek word, tuta. Paul uses this term as a

00:12:51.340 packaging term, a packaging term. For example, in this Ephesians passage, when Paul says,

00:12:58.500 and this is not of your own doing, is he talking about the grace or is he talking about the faith?

00:13:07.780 What is not of our own doing? Is it the grace not of our own doing? Is it the faith not of

00:13:12.200 our own doing? What is it? Well, if you're an Arminian, you're going to say, well, it's just

00:13:19.040 the grace. The faith is ours. We have our own faith. And so it can't be that God gave

00:13:24.120 us faith. No, no. That's what the Arminian would say. But the grammatical pattern of

00:13:31.660 Paul's writings and the literary rules of Greek tell us that it's the grace and the

00:13:39.080 faith. It's the grace and the faith that is not of your own doing. All of it is a gift

00:13:45.120 of God. The entire package. None of it isn't from you.

00:13:50.800 Isn't that amazing? Just think about it for a second.

00:13:53.420 Why do you have faith? You have faith because God gifted

00:13:57.040 it to you. What does Jesus say? Or what does

00:14:00.920 the author of Hebrews even say? Jesus,

00:14:04.540 the author and finisher of our faith.

00:14:10.420 No, we know that

00:14:12.500 it is the grace and the faith. And so, Paul is packaging multiple objects into one pronoun.

00:14:24.080 And so, when we apply that grammatical pattern to the passage that we have here in Romans 13, 11,

00:14:29.540 we see that the this is not just referring to the previous sentence, to the previous

00:14:35.940 clause, but it's actually referring to the previous section. What is the this that we're

00:14:43.920 supposed to do? Do this. Time is running out. Do this. Well, what? I want to know what it is.

00:14:49.760 What am I supposed to be doing? Now, the vast majority of theologians believe that

00:14:56.280 the this is basically a summing up of all the things that he just talked about from Romans 12.1

00:15:08.000 all the way to Romans 13.10. And I would agree. So when Paul says do this, he's saying if we go

00:15:16.120 to 12.1, give up your bodies as a living sacrifice. Don't be conformed to this world. Use your

00:15:21.920 spiritual gifts for the edification of others. Apply the marks of the Christian life. Obey 0.85

00:15:26.560 authorities. Keep the law through love. All of that. All of that is what he's saying. Do this.

00:15:35.420 All of that. Do all of this now because time is short and the kingdom is upon us.

00:15:45.060 Now, the term knowing the time, I think it's about making a proper estimation of time, a proper estimation of time.

00:16:03.100 Don't sleep on faithfulness or obedience to God.

00:16:09.460 What makes it so interesting to me is that we're obsessed with time.

00:16:14.000 Like, what's the first thing you do when you wake up?

00:16:18.720 You're like, grab your phone.

00:16:20.640 What time is it?

00:16:22.020 Okay, time is like the priority.

00:16:26.280 We are obsessed with timekeeping.

00:16:30.420 We make it to work on time.

00:16:32.620 We hit deadlines.

00:16:35.500 We keep schedules.

00:16:38.640 In other words, we're not ignorant to time or the moment.

00:16:43.320 of time. We know what time it is and what is most important to accomplish in that period of time.

00:16:52.200 Every one of us can do that. We're not unable. Each of us are able to accomplish and understand

00:16:59.960 the time. But for some reason, the awareness, the diligence, the estimation of time when it comes

00:17:09.560 to our spiritual life, all of our ability just kind of floats out the window. We lose track of

00:17:15.920 time. We don't know how to keep time or recognize the moment anymore. We'll make time to watch a

00:17:24.400 movie, but we won't make time to pray. We'll give an enormous amount of time to scrolling,

00:17:32.560 like the average teenager scrolls a quarter mile on their phone a day.

00:17:35.940 it's a real step

00:17:38.460 but we'll give minutes

00:17:41.000 to God's word

00:17:41.920 we'll give hours

00:17:45.280 to playing video games

00:17:47.260 or exercising

00:17:48.380 or going to the gym

00:17:49.360 but we can't find

00:17:52.580 15 minutes

00:17:53.480 to do family worship

00:17:54.620 and lead our families

00:17:55.580 at home

00:17:56.040 Paul says

00:18:00.260 know the time

00:18:01.560 know it

00:18:03.000 know the time

00:18:04.160 You have come from darkness to light in your understanding, and you are to reflect that in the actions and your schedules and your estimation of time.

00:18:16.880 Ephesians 5.8 says,

00:18:19.200 For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

00:18:26.680 Walk as children of light.

00:18:29.040 1 Thessalonians 5.5-8 says,

00:18:31.820 For you are all children of light.

00:18:34.160 Children of the day, we are not of the night or of the darkness, so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

00:18:48.440 Sober.

00:18:52.140 Ultimately, this is a call to stop sleepwalking through your spiritual life.

00:18:58.300 Wake up.

00:18:59.140 Now, you know what? There's nothing like a life-changing crisis that'll make you wake up.

00:19:08.360 About five years ago, I got sick, real sick, almost died sick.

00:19:14.280 For several years, I was sick.

00:19:17.260 And it made me realize that our time is short.

00:19:23.140 You don't have a guarantee for tomorrow.

00:19:26.420 As a pastor, I often hear about people who are dying more than the average person.

00:19:34.320 I get the text messages.

00:19:36.720 I get messages from other pastors, people that follow me on social media asking me to pray for them.

00:19:44.540 Kids die.

00:19:47.100 Babies die. 0.97

00:19:49.160 Moms that just had twins die.

00:19:53.560 Dads in their 30s die.

00:19:56.420 we don't have all the time in the world.

00:20:07.200 Paul says, for now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

00:20:14.600 Again, I want you to be a competent Bible interpreter,

00:20:19.380 and I want you to notice that this phrase starts with the word for.

00:20:22.940 I've said this probably 50 times since we planted this church.

00:20:29.380 When you see the word for, it's a signal that it's a term of explanation.

00:20:36.880 You could almost change it out with the word because or consequently.

00:20:42.860 It's a synonym for those.

00:20:45.560 That is that this is dealing with the reason we ought to know the time to do those things which Paul commands.

00:20:52.880 He's giving you the reason why, why we, why should we do those things?

00:20:57.660 Because our salvation, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

00:21:02.360 We're closer to the kingdom standing before God than when we first believed.

00:21:10.920 I don't know about you.

00:21:11.440 When did you first believe?

00:21:12.800 It might've been 10 years ago.

00:21:13.980 It might've been 20 years ago.

00:21:15.140 It might've been last year, but for a lot of us, it's been a while and we're nearer.

00:21:22.880 to that full redemption than we were when we first believed.

00:21:30.300 Perspective informs pace, okay?

00:21:33.320 If I could kind of put a title on this sermon,

00:21:38.540 perspective informs pace.

00:21:43.420 When we're far from the finish line, we kind of move slower.

00:21:45.940 We assume there's no rush.

00:21:49.220 But when we get close to the finish line, we pick up speed.

00:21:52.160 We know the end is near. For example, when a deadline is looming, the awareness of time

00:22:00.440 becomes pretty critical. I got five hours to finish this test or to work this paper or to

00:22:08.540 get this turned in. People cram. They sprint to meet quotas. They scramble to finish. This is

00:22:15.420 true of every one of our lives. When the deadline's there, you run out of time. People that get a

00:22:23.520 diagnosis that may end to their death, they go, I have a limited amount of time and I'm going to do

00:22:31.440 more. I'm going to care and be effective with my time. Yet when it comes to kingdom work, many

00:22:42.640 Christians just stroll as if they have endless time, endless time. They're blind to the fact 0.99

00:22:48.900 that their days are slipping away. There's no rush to praise or to pray or to write or to study or

00:22:55.620 to give or to disciple your children or to serve. You just kind of throw it on the back burner

00:23:02.500 because you've got time. One day, one day when I have the time, then I'll study, then I'll pray,

00:23:10.640 Then I'll understand theology.

00:23:12.980 Then I'll work through that discipleship with my children.

00:23:16.780 Then I'll catechize my family.

00:23:19.720 The urgency is just not there.

00:23:22.920 And I believe if we grasp how near we truly are to the finish, we'd run harder.

00:23:28.520 We'd run more effectively.

00:23:30.680 Psalm 90 verse 12 says,

00:23:33.000 Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

00:23:37.760 number them there's actually a couple groups online you may have seen them that'll show you

00:23:45.820 exactly how many days the average person has left at a particular age when you realize how much time

00:23:52.380 you spend sleeping how much time you spend eating how much time you spend doing mundane things

00:23:58.320 your time block gets shorter and shorter and shorter

00:24:02.260 in the year 1840

00:24:06.760 Robert Murray McShane wrote an essay

00:24:10.080 it's actually available in the ReLearn app

00:24:13.220 it's called Our Time is Short

00:24:15.700 and it's based on 1 Corinthians 7.29

00:24:19.080 where Paul says the time is short

00:24:22.580 I'm going to read you an excerpt

00:24:26.120 and it's kind of hard to hear

00:24:28.320 life is very short from the cradle to the grave is a brief journey the length of our days is 70

00:24:39.260 years or 80 if we have the strength yet their span is but trouble and sorrow for they quickly

00:24:46.360 pass and we fly away that's psalm 90 verse 10 it continues and it says between 15 and 20 percent

00:24:54.320 of people who die, die before they are 40. Even when people lived for many hundreds of years,

00:25:01.700 it was still a short life, a moment compared to eternity. Methuselah lived 969 years and he died.

00:25:12.860 Had he not been mentioned in the Bible, not one soul would remember him.

00:25:17.780 People are short-lived like grass.

00:25:22.000 The apostle Peter says, all flesh is as grass.

00:25:26.280 The rich and beautiful are like the flower of the field, a little brighter and more delicate.

00:25:31.760 But the apostle continues saying, the grass withers and the flower fades because the spirit of the Lord blows upon it.

00:25:41.340 Isaiah 40 verse 7.

00:25:43.460 James asks, quote, what is your life?

00:25:47.900 It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

00:25:54.980 You know how swiftly a weaver's shuttle flies, but your life flies more swiftly.

00:26:01.760 Job 7 verse 6 says, quote, my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle.

00:26:07.040 He goes on to say, quote, my days are swifter than a runner.

00:26:10.360 they pass away as the swift ships and as the eagle that hastens to the prey.

00:26:17.300 Much of your time has already passed, he says.

00:26:21.340 Most believers spent their early days serving sin.

00:26:25.960 Many gave their best years to wickedness and to the world.

00:26:31.240 Numerous among you have only the years of age, sickness, and tiredness to give to God.

00:26:38.760 The time that remains is already numbered for you.

00:26:43.020 Your weeks are like sand in an hourglass that drops them like rain.

00:26:48.220 Your Sabbaths are numbered.

00:26:50.360 The number of sermons you will hear is numbered.

00:26:53.600 In fact, the last sermon you will ever hear is already fixed in your future.

00:26:59.040 If you're age 40, you have approximately 15,000 days remaining.

00:27:04.460 Your years are also numbered.

00:27:06.560 and the average person sleeps 24 years of their lifetime.

00:27:12.320 For some, it is the last year that you will ever see this world.

00:27:17.200 You will celebrate your next new year in glory.

00:27:20.960 The disease is now in your body in some of you.

00:27:24.340 The organs are already failing.

00:27:26.440 Your grave is already marked out.

00:27:28.260 In a little while, your body will be lying quietly there.

00:27:31.860 Yes, dear brethren, the time is short.

00:27:36.560 this is hard.

00:27:43.320 But it's good.

00:27:46.100 It's good to hear.

00:27:49.100 It's good to hear because we know that to be absent of the body is to be present with the Lord.

00:27:53.840 We know that in the face of all types of conflict and consequences and turmoil and trials,

00:28:00.540 that Paul and Peter can sit there in chains and sing psalms and hymns.

00:28:06.560 We know that in the face of tragedy and diagnosis and sickness,

00:28:10.320 that we are closer to Christ than we've ever been before. 1.00

00:28:16.900 But to be drunk around time is stupid. 1.00

00:28:26.220 Sobriety, sobriety around time matters. 1.00

00:28:31.320 We throw time away like we're throwing rocks into a pond.

00:28:34.560 no don't waste your time the lord has given you every single minute it's a gift of the lord

00:28:43.300 use it for his glory we've all heard the phrases the days are long but the years are short or time

00:28:53.100 flies just yesterday veronica said oh my goodness it's already march and i thought and it's going

00:29:00.180 to be April like that. These are not popular idioms for no

00:29:06.540 reason. Your time is short. Know the time. We have work to do

00:29:16.820 as a church. Paul goes on to say, verse 12, the night is far

00:29:24.280 spent, the day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the

00:29:26.760 works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. The Bible speaks of time in two distinct

00:29:33.460 eras. In the Old Testament, it was the present age and the age to come. Those are the two eras.

00:29:42.340 Eschatologically, Christ's birth was viewed as the dawn of time,

00:29:46.860 the end of darkness, and the start of light. It's why Scripture calls Jesus the light of the world.

00:29:56.760 Jesus in John 12, 46 says, I have come as light into the world so that everyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness.

00:30:08.440 This has created what theologians have called the already and not yet or the already and not fully.

00:30:14.000 There's an overlapping of eras that's happening right now.

00:30:18.600 The darkness era is fading away and the dawn of the new era has come with Christ.

00:30:27.620 The incarnation of Christ brought the inauguration of the kingdom.

00:30:31.380 It brought light into the world.

00:30:33.620 It was light entering the dark world that while it entered in, it did not completely eliminate the darkness.

00:30:42.760 Not yet.

00:30:43.680 It's already, but not yet.

00:30:44.900 Already, but not fully.

00:30:46.980 Here, Paul says, the night is almost gone.

00:30:49.700 The night is almost gone.

00:30:52.480 And the day is at hand.

00:30:54.920 first john 2 8 says the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining

00:31:01.620 there's a crossover between two different eras john stott says on this passage he says

00:31:08.120 for the time being two ages overlap unbelievers belong to the old age and are still in the

00:31:14.580 darkness but those who belong to jesus christ have been transferred into the new age into the 0.97

00:31:19.660 light. Only when Christ comes in glory will the present overlap end. The transition period will 0.99

00:31:28.180 be over. The old age will finally vanish, and those who belong to it will be destroyed. The 1.00

00:31:35.200 new age will be consummated, and those who belong to it will be fully and finally redeemed.

00:31:43.200 Ultimately, this passage of Scripture, verse 12 here, it's a call to holiness. It's a call to

00:31:49.420 vigilance. It's a call to readiness. I'm not talking about readiness for the return of Christ.

00:31:56.440 I don't think that's what this passage is talking about at all. I'm talking about the readiness

00:31:59.980 that you might be before the Lord tomorrow. All of us are going to die.

00:32:08.540 Some might be there before us, but I won't be far behind. You won't be far behind.

00:32:15.540 Paul closes with a concluding command he says therefore cast off the works of darkness

00:32:25.060 and let us put on the armor of light this is a military metaphor

00:32:30.680 it's the image of taking off the weighty sin that slows us down and put on the weightless

00:32:37.760 armor of light. Move quick.

00:32:42.380 Hebrews 12.1 says,

00:32:43.820 let us also lay aside every weight

00:32:45.900 and sin which clings so closely

00:32:47.960 and let us run with the

00:32:49.760 endurance, the race that is set

00:32:51.840 before us.

00:32:54.460 One practical way that

00:32:55.820 we can cast off darkness is through

00:32:57.380 repentance. You want to get lighter?

00:33:00.040 You want to move quicker? You want to be more

00:33:01.720 effective with your time? Stop sinning.

00:33:04.280 Repent.

00:33:06.040 Clean your life up.

00:33:07.760 Seek the kingdom of God.

00:33:15.380 Repentance is a form of removal.

00:33:18.500 And it's not, again, it's not just a form of removal.

00:33:22.960 Repentance also puts something on.

00:33:24.960 It's a turning away from sin and a turning toward God.

00:33:30.440 True repentance does both.

00:33:31.800 I'm going to close with a couple quotes

00:33:37.840 because the Puritans before me 0.85

00:33:40.520 have done better work

00:33:43.940 than I could pull out of this

00:33:45.460 Richard Baxter says 1.00

00:33:49.480 oh fools that we are 1.00

00:33:52.080 that we spend our days in drowsiness 1.00

00:33:54.660 and dream away our lives

00:33:56.700 and earthly cares and vain delights

00:33:58.180 when such glory is at hand

00:34:00.160 When I look to heaven, all my busy thoughts shrink into nothing, and I wonder at my own dullness that I should love so little and labor so faintly for that which is so great.

00:34:14.920 John Owen says,

00:34:15.780 If the saints knew what a little while it would be before they came to the enjoyment of that blissful presence of the Lord, they would be more heavenly minded and less entangled with the world.

00:34:30.160 The sight of Christ and his glory will make them wonder why they ever could be so cold in their love,

00:34:37.480 slow in their obedience, or weak in their faith.

00:34:41.000 Thomas Watson,

00:34:42.960 Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset, yet how little we labor for it.

00:34:50.300 We shall one day in the courts of heaven wonder why we prayed so little, trusted so little,

00:34:55.380 and lived so much for that which perishes.

00:34:58.760 and William Grinnell.

00:35:01.980 One hour in heaven will make us wish

00:35:04.460 that we had lived wholly for Christ

00:35:06.380 and given him our all.

00:35:10.800 Oh, that we had spent every breath for him

00:35:13.820 who has now given us eternity.

00:35:18.560 Time is short.

00:35:21.760 We have work to do in this church.

00:35:25.480 The Lord is using, we're the means.

00:35:27.560 we're not the substance

00:35:29.840 we're the means 0.99

00:35:30.640 you want to see Prescott become a Christianized town

00:35:34.060 it's going to take a century 0.82

00:35:36.900 you know how that happens

00:35:38.800 holy people

00:35:41.220 holy people

00:35:43.640 it's amazing what the Lord can do

00:35:45.740 with a group of extremely faithful people

00:35:49.040 that raise up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord

00:35:52.440 that live righteously in everything they do

00:35:56.520 that run their businesses righteously,

00:35:59.240 that have great marriages and obedient children,

00:36:04.020 make it to church.

00:36:07.580 Let's pray that the Lord would do a great work

00:36:10.580 in this congregation.

00:36:12.620 Amen?

00:36:13.460 Amen.

00:36:14.680 Father, we thank you, Lord,

00:36:16.860 for this call to urgency.

00:36:22.700 Lord, that you would teach us to number our days.

00:36:24.840 and father that you would work in us and through us by your power to do great and mighty things

00:36:32.300 in this church in this town lord that we would lay the groundwork

00:36:37.380 for generations for our kids and for our grandkids and for our great-grandkids in this town

00:36:44.340 there would be a a holy city here

00:36:47.860 lord we ask that you would bless us with conviction and hope

00:36:55.140 lord that you have every single one of our days in your hands

00:37:00.720 and that we would not worry or live in anxiety be anxious for nothing your apostle says

00:37:07.840 but we ask that you would bless us with that wisdom in jesus name amen

00:37:17.860 Thank you.

Dale Partridge - March 04, 2025

Romans 13_11-12 Christian Time Management

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