Evangelical Free Church of Embarass

Since February we’ve been talking about the transformed life. In chapter 12, verse 2 of Romans, Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We are to live a transformed life, a different life. We found out in verse 1 of chapter 12 that before you can live a transformed life there must be a presentation. That verse says that because of God’s mercies and the work he has done through Jesus and our salvation, it makes sense that we would present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. It’s when we have made that presentation, that surrender of ourselves to God, that we are, then, able to live the transformed life. What does the transformed life look like? What does it involve? Chapter 12, verse 3 through 13:10 presents that picture, and that’s what we’ve been looking at these Sundays as we’ve gone through this series. We’re looking at those things that make up the transformed life, examples of what our lives would look like if we presented ourselves to God and then lived that different life. As you go through chapter 12 and 13, you see as a review some of the things we talked about. In the transformed life (12:3-8) there’s a certain way of thinking about yourself. You see yourself as part of a community, a body and you see yourself as a person that God has gifted in order to serve the others in that community. That’s part of the transformed life. We move to 12:9 and on and we have a number of things that become part of the transformed life. We love each other genuinely. We cling to things that are good and we abhor, we turn from, the things that are evil. That’s the transformed life. In the transformed life, we’re devoted to each other. We honor each other. We passionately serve the Lord and we persevere through trials and tribulations prayerfully with hope. That’s the transformed life. We go on to 12:14 and we find that when you’re living the transformed life you treat your persecutors a certain way. You bless them, you don’t curse them. People who are rejoicing, you rejoice with them; people who are grieving, you feel the grief and you grieve with them. That’s the transformed life. We found out in 12:16 that in the transformed life you associate with people who are considered lowly. In verses 17-21, we found out that the transformed life involves living at peace with others, not taking revenge, not trying to get even, leaving that to God. That’s pretty different in this world, isn’t it? But that’s the transformed life. In chapter 13, the first 7 verses, we saw that living the transformed life even affects how you view governing authorities and how you handle those people in your life. And then in verses 8-10, we learned that in the transformed life, you’re motivated by love not law. Love becomes the motivating factor, not law. Now if you missed any of those studies, or want to go back through them, like always you can get the series in a cassette album or you can go to our website and actually read the studies or print them off. So there’s no excuse for not catching up on what you missed or reviewing if you want to.

As we come to verse 11 of chapter 13 and we wrap up this study, Paul basically says that in conclusion we should wake up. Notice in verse 11 he says it’s time to awaken from your sleep. Wake up. Let’s read what he says. Verse 11, “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 first believed. 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. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife or jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” Let’s pray.

Father, I pray that You would take this concluding time together in this series on the transformed life and through Your servant, Paul, through Your word here, that You would minister to our hearts. Challenge us, Lord. I pray, Father, that this would be a wake up call for us, that we would, as Paul says to the Romans, awaken from our sleep. Father, help us to understand these things. Help us to accept the challenge from You in Your word this morning. In Jesus’ name, amen.

You’ll notice in verses 11 and 12, Paul more than once makes reference to the idea that the time is short. The hour is coming. It’s closer than it’s ever been. He even says your salvation is closer than the day you first believed. It makes sense, doesn’t it? I believed in Jesus Christ and trusted Him for salvation in about 1964. I am closer to the day when my salvation will become a completed reality in the presence of Jesus than I was in 1964. That makes sense, doesn’t it? And whenever it was that you trusted Christ for salvation, the completing of that and the reality of it in the very presence of Jesus through His return or your death is closer today than it was when you first believed, right? That’s all he’s saying. And because of that, he says wake up! Awaken from your sleep. Now what do you think he means by sleep? He probably means spiritual sleep, spiritual apathy, spiritual indifference, spiritual laziness. We get into that now and then don’t we, where we become apathetic in our Christian walk? We become indifferent about the things of God, even as Christians. We become lazy spiritually. Paul’s call here as he concludes this chapter, as he concludes talking about the transformed life, is wake up! It’s a wake up call. We’re getting closer and closer to the day when we will be with Christ, and all that’s involved in our salvation will be totally complete, so let’s not be lazy now. Let’s not be apathetic now. Let’s not be indifferent now. Let’s wake up. Maybe this morning you need a wake up call. I don’t know where you’re at, but maybe you do, and maybe this message to the Romans is also for your.

Paul goes on to give five instructions, five wake-up instructions. After he said, “wake up,” here are five instructions. Let’s look at them.

1. Lay aside the deeds of darkness. The term “lay aside” here in the original Greek is a very strong term. It had the idea of casting off filthy garments. It’s pertaining to clothing, and the idea of laying aside or putting off is that of casting away or rejecting filthy clothing. So he’s not talking about nicely taking some clothes off, folding them up and setting them somewhere where you can wear them again. That’s not the idea here. It’s a very strong term. It’s the idea of casting it off and rejecting it, getting rid of it like you would some filthy old garments that you never want to put on again. And he’s saying you need to wake up and do that concerning the deeds of darkness – sinful activity. In fact, we’ll see some examples of the deeds of darkness in a later verse. But right here, the first instruction is to take those deeds of darkness that you’re wearing (remember it’s in the context, in the words of clothing), those filthy deeds of darkness and cast them off. Reject them!

2. And then he says, Put on the armor of light. In the place of those deeds of darkness put on the armor of light. That’s what should replace the deeds of darkness in our life. In Ephesians 5, Paul talks about the fruit of the light being goodness, truth, righteousness, the very opposite of the deeds of darkness. Here he’s saying cast off and reject those deeds of darkness, that sinful activity, and put in it’s place the armor of light. He uses the word armor. It’s a protective thing. Put on the armor of light – righteousness, truth, goodness.

3. (Verse 13) Then let us behave properly. There are some things that are just not proper for the people of God, and as you glance at this verse in your Bible, you’ll see that he presents some examples in pairs. There are 3 pairs of deeds of darkness, of improper living as a Christian. To behave properly we must not be involved in these things.

Carousing and drunkenness. Those are 2 examples of the deeds of darkness. In the context of this verse, he says they’re not proper for the people of God. We understand drunkenness. We don’t have to explain that and talk about it. It’s a deed of darkness. It’s improper behavior for a person of God. It is to be cast away and rejected. Along with that he talks about carousing. Carousing and drunkenness. It’s the idea of reveling, wild parties, orgies, that type of thing. And since it’s combined with drunkenness, it’s probably dealing with drinking parties, that kind of carousing. It becomes one of the deeds of darkness that’s to be laid aside and rejected. It’s not proper.
Sexual promiscuity and sensuality. Sexual sin and sensuality. The word here is “chambering,” and the idea is to sleep around. Chambering is going from bed to bed to bed, so he’s talking about sexual sin here and he’s saying that that is one of the deeds of darkness that is improper for the people of God. Sensuality is a general term that has to do with letting your desires and lusts and passions control. Sensuality is when there are no restraints on your desires and you just let yourself go. Again, because it’s combined with sexual promiscuity, it’s probably related. He’s talking about that area of sexuality where we just let our desires and lusts go, no restraint. He’s saying those are deeds of darkness. They are to be laid aside, rejected because they are not proper for God’s people.
Strife and jealousy. I looked at that and I thought why is that in this verse. I can see carousing and drunkenness, deeds of darkness not proper for God’s people. You’ve got to lay those aside and reject them. I can see sexual promiscuity and sensuality. They are deeds of darkness. They are improper for God’s people. We need to lay them aside and reject them. But then he says strife and jealousy. They also are deeds of darkness apparently. They also are improper for God’s people. They’re in the same list with carousing and drunkenness, sexual sin and sensuality. We don’t often put them in the same list in our minds do we? Strife is simply quarreling and fighting and we know jealousy. Jealousy is often at the root of the strife. Those are deeds of darkness, friends, just as much as these other four things he’s mentioned. They need to be laid aside and rejected just as much. They are just as improper in the life of the people of God as those other four. Strife and jealousy.

4. Make no provision for the lusts of the flesh. To make provision is to think ahead, plan ahead, make opportunity for, and Paul says here don’t make opportunity for the lusts of the flesh. Don’t make provision for it. Don’t plan ahead to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And we see that or hear that and we say, “I never do that! I never make provision for carousing and drunkenness. I never think ahead and make opportunity for sexual sin and sensuality. I don’t plan for strife and jealousy. What do you mean make no provision for those things?” Friends, we do that all the time. Making no provision for carousing would be when they invite you, you turn down the invitation instead of putting yourself in a position where you would get involved in carousing. When it comes to the deed of darkness called drunkenness, it might mean not having alcohol in the home. It might mean not going certain places if it’s a struggle so that we don’t make provision for it, make opportunity for that deed of darkness. When it comes to sexual sin, making no provision might mean staying away from those certain magazines, not being on the internet in the middle of the night when everyone else is in bed, being careful about those private rendezvous with a fellow worker or friend of the opposite sex, being careful about being on a date alone with certain people. That’s what making no provision for the lusts of the flesh might mean. Sometimes we put ourselves in situations that provide opportunity, unnecessary opportunity for the lusts of the flesh. So yes, we need to wake up and hear what Paul is saying because we often do make provision for the flesh. I think what happens is that we as Christians, instead of putting off, taking off and rejecting sinful things, we tend to be involved in sin management. For whatever reason, we are not willing to just totally take off and reject certain sinful activities in our lives. We don’t like it. We wish it wasn’t there, but instead of taking that drastic step that the Bible teaches of casting off and rejecting it, we practice sin management. We handle it! Isn’t that the word we use? Don’t worry about me. I can handle it. It’s one of our favorite words. I can handle it! What we’re saying is I prefer sin management to just casting it off and rejecting it. And then we wonder why we got ourselves in the mess we’re in. It’s because we can’t handle it. We are very poor at sin management. All that does is makes provision, it makes opportunity for the lusts of the flesh. We need to wake up and do what Paul is saying here. He’s saying you don’t practice sin management. You don’t try to handle the deeds of darkness. He says you cast it off and reject it like you would a filthy garment. That’s what you do. And I wonder how many of us view some of our sins as a filthy old garment that we never want to see again and view it seriously enough that we would take whatever steps are necessary to cast it off and reject it instead of just trying to manage it and handle it. Make no provision for the flesh.

An example of someone making provision for the flesh. Remember King David? 2 Samuel 11? King David, during the course of that account, ends up committing sexual sin, one of these deeds of darkness, with a woman named Bathsheba that he wasn’t married to. She was someone else’s wife. He ends up committing sin with her. Was that the first step, acting on his lusts and committing sexual sin? No! He made provision for the flesh. First of all, he was in the wrong place. The scripture there says he should have been out with his armies fighting. That was his role, that was his place as king. But for whatever reason, he chose not to be there where he belonged and he ended up in the wrong place. You make provision for the flesh and you put yourself in the wrong place. Second, David was alone. No one was around. All his friends who maybe typically would hold him accountable, support him and encourage him, were off at war. He was alone. And a lot of times the flesh has great opportunity when we’re alone. He was alone at night and that’s dangerous. He was up on his roof, you remember, and just by accident, he happened to look down and he saw this woman bathing. Then he realized what was happening in his mind and he walked away, right? No! He entertained the lusts. He kept looking. He was making provision again. He kept making provision for the flesh until finally he acted on the lusts. But it didn’t start there, did it? It didn’t start with the deed of darkness. It started with making provision, being in the wrong place (not where he should have been), being alone at a vulnerable time and entertaining the thoughts instead of taking them captive and walking away. All of that led to David’s committing sexual sin. David didn’t wake up that morning saying, “Tonight I’m going to commit sexual sin.” It happened because he made some choices that provided opportunity, and Paul says many, many years later, don’t make provision for the lusts of the flesh. Take it seriously! Wake up! Don’t get lazy! Don’t get complacent! Don’t get apathetic spiritually! Wake up! Put off the deeds of darkness. Cast them off and reject them. Put on the armor of light instead. Behave properly, not in these deeds of darkness and make no provision. You’ve got to take it seriously, friends. Is anybody familiar with a man named Bill Leer? He was an inventor, a businessman, an aviator. He was credited with 150 different patents. Some of his more popular were the Leer jet, automatic pilot on airplanes was his invention. Bill Leer. Car radios were invented by Bill Leer. He’s the one that came up with 8-track tapes (3 out of 4 isn’t bad). And 146 other inventions. But it’s said about this man that throughout his entire life, he was focused, he was committed to making things better for others and himself. He was always dreaming. He was always creating. He was always thinking. And no one who knew Bill Leer could call him a lazy person. We need to be like Bill Leer in our spiritual life. Focused. Always awake. Always committed. Always looking ahead and thinking and on the alert. It’s very important.

The 5th wake up instruction, I think, is the most important of the five, and it’s in the first part of verse 14. He says, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” It’s the terminology of clothing again. Put on – words that were commonly used in putting on clothes. So Paul is saying put on Jesus. Wrap yourself in Jesus Christ. Don’t make provision for the flesh. Lay aside and reject the deeds of darkness. Don’t behave improperly, but instead put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Clothe yourself in Him. Wrap yourself up in Jesus. That’s a wonderful picture, isn’t it, to just wrap yourself up in Jesus. Just put Him right around you and clothe yourself with Him. When you think about it, that’s what the transformed life is. It’s a Christ-like life. We could go back through chapters 12 and 13 of Romans and look at every one of these pieces of the picture that we’ve seen of the transformed life and we could look at them and say that’s like Jesus. That’s Christ-like. That’s how Jesus would live. The garment of the transformed life is Jesus Christ Himself. That’s what the transformed life looks like. If you want to live the different life the Bible talks about, you put on Jesus and you determine that you will wrap yourself in Him and you will be like Him, and you will be transformed, your life will be transformed, you will be different. You see, if we continue to make provision for the flesh, if we continue to try and handle and manage the deeds of darkness, if we continue to actually be involved in these sinful things, we will be conforming right? We’ll be just like the world. You read those three pairs in that verse – carousing and drunkenness sounds like the world doesn’t it; sexual promiscuity and sensuality sounds like the world without God doesn’t it? Strife and jealousy sounds like our world doesn’t it? So if you and I as Christians are involved in those things we’re conforming like chapter 12, verse 2 says we shouldn’t be. We’re being just like that. If we want to be transformed, as chapter 12:2 says, then we need to put on Jesus, because when we put on Jesus and we live like Jesus, we’ll be different. We will be different. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you’re going to travel in space, there is certain clothing that you need to wear that’s called for. If you’re going to get married, usually there’s certain clothing that you wear that’s called for. If you’re going to go deep-sea diving, there’s certain clothing that you wear that’s called for. If you’re going to perform surgery, there’s certain clothing that you wear that’s called for. If you’re going to live the transformed life as a Christian, there’s certain clothing that you wear – Jesus. Jesus is the garment of the transformed life. You put anything else on and you will conform. You put on Jesus and you will live the transformed life. You will be different.

So the conclusion is that the garment of a transformed life is Jesus Christ. Clothe yourself with Him every day and you will make a difference. How do we do that? We already know how to do that. We’ve already developed a habit of clothing ourselves everyday. Every one of you, I notice as I look out, did that today. It’s a habit of your life isn’t it? When was the last time you put off clothing yourself at the beginning of the day. When was the last time you broke that habit. You didn’t. It’s become part of your life. You put on clothing every day. It’s not different. We need to develop the habit of putting on Jesus every day so that it becomes as much a part of us as putting on those pants, that shirt, those socks, whatever. It becomes so much of a habit that every day, one of the first things I think about, and I’m not necessarily talking about a 15-minute devotional time in the morning. That’s good. That would be a way to do it. I’m just talking about something as small and short as first thing in the day one of my first thoughts is Jesus, “I want to be wrapped in you today. I want to put you on today and I want to be like you. Help me.” Couldn’t we develop a habit to think those few thoughts every day and get into the habit of daily putting on the Lord Jesus Christ? Just getting into that habit will go a long way in our living each of those days in a transformed way that’s described in Romans 12 and 13. Every day make a point to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. “Jesus, I put you on today. I want to be wrapped up in you. I want to be like you today. Help me.” And then go live the transformed life, the Christ-like life.

Actually, chapter 12, verse 2 and these last verses of 13 are parallel. Different words but they’re saying the same thing. Chapter 12:2 said, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed...” The end of chapter 13 says, “Lay aside and reject the deeds of darkness and put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Same thing, right? It’s beginning and ending with the exact same thing, just different words. When you conform to the world it means you’re hanging onto the deeds of darkness and you’re operating there. When you’re transformed by the renewing of your mind, it means you’re like Jesus. You’re putting on Jesus. So not being conformed and being transformed is the same as casting off the deeds of darkness and putting on Jesus Christ. He is the garment of the transformed life. And I tell you what, this world needs transformed people. This world needs the people of God to live transformed lives. Those other kids at school, boys and girls, needs somebody there willing to live a transformed life, to be different in a godly way. Young people in your high school, they don’t know it but they’re crying out for somebody like you to live a transformed life, to be different in a godly way. And men and women at your place of work and in your community, the greatest thing those people need is for you to live a transformed life, to put on Jesus every day and live that different life. They need that!

Let’s wake up and let’s do it. Let’s live the transformed life. Wear Jesus wherever we go. Please pray with me.

Father, we thank You for these two chapters in Your word. Thank You, Father, for the saving work that you have done in our lives, those who know You, Your mercy, Your grace, Your forgiveness. And Father, it makes sense, then, that we would just present ourselves to You and live a transformed life. Father, don’t let us forget this. Don’t let us be apathetic. Father, wake us up every day ready to put on Jesus and to wear Him and be like Him every day so that You can be glorified in this world, Father, and so that people can see the transforming power of Jesus in our lives. In Your name we pray, amen.