Casting Off Darkness: A New Perspective on Christ’s Return

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

So Paul now introduces a motive for our caring for the world and serving humanity, and it’s a surprise at first, you might think, but it really makes a lot of sense once we think about it. It’s in Romans 13, beginning at verse 11. Let’s just for connection get a few comments from previous verses. Oh, no man anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. And then Paul goes on to say, and do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. So why is Paul introducing the idea or the truth about the second coming of Jesus? If we misunderstand the passage, we’re likely to think in this way. Well, we’d better serve other people and do good and present ourselves to the world because Jesus is coming soon and there’ll be a judgment. and we’d better straighten up and do right. Is that what this means? Well, no, it isn’t, and I’ll tell you why. Listen to what Paul says. Listen carefully. For do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Not, now our judgment is nearer than when we first believed, but our rescue, our salvation. We are to serve the world because Jesus is coming to rescue us and we are telling the world the good news about that rescue, and trust in him because he will bring you salvation. In other words, the motivation for serving the world is not fear and judgment, but love and good news. The kingdom is coming, and that should revive all our hearts and make us think, hey, listen, we need to tell more people and speak more positively. about Jesus’ coming and his return, because salvation is imminent, and we want people to get in on the act. He says, the night is far spent, the day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Now this seems a little bit different, doesn’t it? It sounds as though he’s saying, serve the world and cast off the works of darkness, otherwise you’ll be judged. But think again very carefully. Why cast off the works of darkness? Because, he says, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Well, if you are giving good news and serving the world and giving them hope and supporting the poor and doing what the community or your neighbor needs because he has needs of your help, you’re doing that by means of putting on the armor of light, casting off the works of darkness. Sin takes time. Sin and brokenness and woundedness consume your energy. They take away your drive and your love, your affection for others because you become self-concentrated. We all do, don’t we? We become self-concentrated in our sin issues. And so when we cast them off, we have more time and energy for other people. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. Look at all that description, and look at the community, look at the world outside, as well as look at ourselves, of course. But look how much energy is consumed in strife and envy and drunkenness. For instance, there are estimated to be 40 million alcoholics in the United States. Think of it. Forty million. That’s not a judgment I’m making. It’s simply a statement that helps us to understand how much time is consumed in ruining ourselves. in bringing ourselves down, and then there are all the other addictions, pornography addiction and all the other stuff, the alcoholism, the drug addiction. I understand that 250,000 people have been killed in the last, is it the last decade, by fentanyl? I mean, what do we want as a nation but a… active, vibrant, youthful community that has energy and strength to serve other people. If we spend that energy consuming ourselves, we have nothing left for anybody else. So it says, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Now here is something really interesting. Usually we think of this in these terms. We need to not fulfill the flesh, so we become Christians and we go to various support groups so that we keep our flesh under control. But think of what it means in a more careful way. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? We’ve seen this in the past verses in the book of Romans. To put on Christ is to have faith that he is clothing us, that’s putting on, clothing us with his righteousness. We are counted as if we were righteous people. We know we’re not, we know we’re sinners, we know we’re imperfect and broken, but we count ourselves as in his righteousness. That is putting on Christ. The result of that is that we do not make provision for the flesh in the sense of we do not identify ourselves in that flesh. You see, when you and I are just tempted to be like the world and no different from the world, we assume that we are simply being tempted by sin. But the greater truth is this, that we have identified ourselves as sinners. That is, we have made provision for the flesh by identifying ourselves as sinners instead of identifying ourselves as having on the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Do you see the difference between Some people, many Christians, simply try to stop doing evil by stopping doing evil. But the way we stop or reduce the power of evil in our lives is to put something on, to add something to our humanity. Not add it in the sense of simply touch up, a little imperfection here and there, but taking on a wholly new identity, and that is Christ as our righteousness. So then these verses give us an enormous new view of why we serve Christ and what we look forward to in the coming of Christ. When I was a young Christian, I looked forward to the coming of Christ because I wanted to be taken out of this world and simply be no longer surrounded by enemies and and ideas and thoughts and culture that simply worked against what I was interested in. The coming of Jesus Christ delivered me from this world. But now I see it as the coming of Christ is the wonderful news of gathering in God’s people all over the world that we serve. Now, granted at the coming of Jesus, there will be those who are saved and those who are lost, the sheep and the goats. Jesus separates the world at his coming. But then comes that millennium where the people of God are saints and priests, and they are being trained by God to be priests. What does that mean? That means they’re being trained to intercede on behalf of God for someone else. Whom? Or rather, who? The rest of the world that has lost, that was lost at the coming of Jesus, the goats. And so then comes the judgment when the world is jealous of the people of God for all the blessings God has given them. and goes after those people. You see it described in Ezekiel 36 to 39 and also Revelation chapter 20. Gog and Magog goes after the city of God to destroy it. And then comes the fire and brimstone, which is not the literal fire and brimstone of Sodom and Gomorrah. That is revealed very clearly as you follow the description of fire and brimstone in the Old Testament. It is the world’s confrontation with God. And as the world is confronted with its sin and the glory of God and the wonderful blessings he has given to the people of God in the city, they become jealous and envious and they long for the mercy that God has given to the saved. And thus God gives that mercy and ultimately every knee bows and every tongue confesses that God is their righteousness and strength. So you see, we look forward to the coming of Jesus because we are going to be prepared at that time to serve the world even more in the final judgment. And Paul says in Romans chapter 14, Let me read it to you. Why do you judge your brother? Why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, for it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. He is taking that quotation directly from the promise, the oath that God made in Isaiah 45.22-24. That promise, the unbreakable oath that God will bring all the world to believe in him and his righteousness, is brought right into the judgment in the book of Romans, chapter 14, verses 10 and 11, and also, by the way, in Philippians chapter 2. So you see, there’s a great reunion, a great reconciliation that’s coming after the coming of Jesus in the final judgment. And we are going to be instruments in that reconciliation because we’re going to be witnesses as vessels of mercy to all the mercy that God has given us. And to whom are we going to be witnesses? To the vessels of wrath who will finally beg for that mercy themselves. Thanks for listening today. Colin Cook here, and this is How It Happens. 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