 Okay, what we're going to do is we're going to be looking at Romans chapter 13 As mentioned, we're going to be looking at verses 8 through 14 as we we continue in our series here in the book of Romans So I'll begin reading at verse 8 in chapter 13 here of Romans. I'll read to verse 14 We'll get into our study Romans chapter 13 beginning at verse 8 reading to verse 14 Paul says Oh, no one anything except a loved 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 a fulfillment of the law and Do this knowing the time that? 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. 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 It's lost. It's it's lost So Paul has been giving commands concerning Christian living and I'll just summarize and then we'll move into our study Christians are to live under the empowerment and control of the Holy Spirit He had pointed out that we have spiritual gifts and were to exercise them For the benefit of other people We also are living in such a way that it will evidence the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit Is love he had said in Romans 12 verse 9 let love be without hypocrisy In verse 10 he said to be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love So that helps us to understand The gifts and the fruit of the Holy Spirit how they work together God's spirit produces love and love motivates us to care for one another I pointed out that in 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 8 that Peter spoke about exercising spiritual gifts But he had begun by exhorting us to love He had said in 1st Peter 4 8 above all things have fervent love for one another for love will cover A multitude of sins the word cover means to bury or even hide from sight So if we're going to serve God and exercise his gifts where to do so in love Because the gifts and the fruit of the spirit work together When you look at the description of what is called the fruit of the spirit, it's found in Galatians 5 22 and 23 I want you to note something. I'll read that to you in point one brief thing out Paul said the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control Against such things. There's no law It's interesting and it's been pointed out in the past that he didn't say the fruits There are a lot of times that I've heard people over the years speaking of the fruits of the spirit as if it's Being spoken of here in Galatians 5 I find it interesting to note that he says the fruit of the spirit singular and what does that mean? Well, it would seem to me that he's using the word love And describing it with eight other words Because a lot of people don't know what love is and so he describes it It's joy. It's peace. It's patience. It's kindness. It's goodness It's faithfulness. It's gentleness itself control all of this Is under the banner of of what love is and so when people use that word love They need to remember how it's defined and described And so as spirit filled and spirit led believers He has pointed out That we're going to be the best citizens in the nation We respect authority because we understand that government Is from god and the first nine chapters of the book of genesis government is one of the things that he has established As a as one of the pillars of of society along with the church and marriage And so we as spirit filled Believers respect authority because we know government has been established by god And we also realize we can suffer consequences when we break the law. So what do we do? Well We obey We also follow the law Because our consciences demand it now I was thinking of some basic things that are very petty so bear with me Because we think of love sometimes and obedience and all Sometimes we think of that in in very general general tenses And so how can I show love and obedience? to commands In a general way. Well, I started writing some things down We don't run stop lights We don't run stop signs Because we can hurt other people right We don't park in handicapped spaces That's one of my pet peeves I sit there. I tell marie. Okay the chinopeed is on you know on duty speaking of myself And I'll say that guy's parked in a handicapped. I really makes me angry. I'm gonna go break his leg. So he is handicapped It's one of my peeves. I'm sorry We obey the the traffic laws We don't want to crash into a family We don't shop lift Just because in some cities we can get away with it now Listen if our government our government is corrupt we do have options As citizens we can present concerns and we can present grievances That I think is in a practical way being shown by the parents who are attending school board meetings and trying to take back control of their kids And we can reject what is a violation of constitutional rights Um Okay, I'm not going to go deep in this. Don't worry It is something I think about um, and it's just one instance I could give many and I won't but Constitutional rights mandates that forced me to do things Just because somebody says I need to do that I you know, we were told you need to wear masks and on all of that and and I obediently did that all of us did I think to some degree. We were forced to do it Who are we to argue? What do we know? I'm not a doctor. I'm going to follow the advice of those that I respect I think we normally do that, right? But after a while you start seeing the hypocrisy of it and you begin to wonder And so in july of 2022 everybody knows dr. Fauci Dr. Fauci stated that he recommend that the country be shut down And that was something that you saw with so many hurt it hurt small businesses and hurt families I heard so many people He he said and I have seen it on tape. He recommended the country be shut down But in august of 2023 he said I never said such a thing And see so when you have one person saying two different things within a year It causes people like you and me to begin to question To begin to wonder what's being told to us. Is it true or is it not true? I think you have to you know continue to To be aware I'll put it that way when I became a christian I didn't take my brain out of my head and put it on a shelf somewhere You know, I still listen and I still observe and I still think about and then I question Because I believe strongly and I'm not I'm not saying this because it's just my belief It's true confusion produces an easier way to control people And that's what we saw take in place And you still see that to our to this day and you do see that and I'll just say this and move on into the bible study I believe we're being set up I believe that people are once again going to be attempted to be forced into their basements So that there's no real ability to see debate and to discuss discuss issues And I believe that we're being set up. I need to be we need to be aware of that. I really believe that so we have the right to oppose Government mandates when they violate our consciousness and our understanding of scripture and the freedoms that we possess Am I saying let's get some signs in march? No What I'm saying is let's be aware Let's be aware. So we were looking at human government. I wanted to add that caveat before we go on Going into verses six and seven and then finally moving on into our study We pay taxes because they're intended for the welfare of all We also are to give proper respect to those in political office And so with those things said we move to verse eight He said oh no one anything Except a love one another Oh, no one anything Let no debt remain outstanding Be paid up Learn to live in moderation Learn to live within your financial means Do not get yourself in over your head As you accumulate material possessions In luke 1215 jesus said watch out be on your guard against all kinds of greed He said life does not consist life does not find its purpose In the abundance of possessions And so we need to be aware of this you see when you borrow money, which we all do at one point or another Make sure that you make your payments when they're due that's what christians are to do That's because honesty and integrity are to be airmarks of a christian Proverbs 22 verse 1 says a good name is more desirable than great riches to be esteemed is better than silver or gold My father taught me this My father was a truck driver blue collar worker But he would rather pay his bills and he did He would pay his bills first before he fed us And and that's a fact Because my dad taught me by example and word That my name means something and that's what my dad said to me. He said your reputation your name means something guarded So I've done that since I've come to faith in christ at the age of 20 I've been aware of that and so I think we all need to if you borrow something Give it back if you borrow money pay it back that makes sense if you take out a student loan Pay it back Marie was a college student when we began to date And she graduated got her degree. She has a bachelor of sociology degree out of Cal Poly Pomona When we married she had a student loan And we paid it off. It wasn't that big a loan But it was a loan nonetheless She knew that when she signed papers to take out a loan That she should pay it back. See that's one of the reasons why I have a big difficulty with this idea Let's pay everybody's loans off No, when you take out a loan you pay it back That's what you're supposed to do and you know, if you're 20 years old 21 years old and you're in college You can vote but you don't know you're supposed to pay back your loan. That doesn't make any sense to me So christians need to be just good people. Here's something for you Psalm 37 21 the wicked borrows and does not repay Hmm Let's be careful not to be wicked So be careful not to accumulate debt. It ruins your testimony Irresponsible money management brings a reproach to the name of jesus christ and your reputation suffers when you default on loans And remember this borrowing money places you under the power of the person that you owe In proverbs 22 7 the rich rules over the poor the borrower is servant to the lender And that's absolutely true. So what do we do? Well? Oh, no man anything but to love make sure you pay we should save if you can save Establish a budget Do not overspend do not frivolously incur debt Pay cash when possible We know you can't pay cash normally for a home or a car. That's understandable If you have a card pay it off monthly Don't overspend Because you're going to end up In just too much pressure Christians prioritize finances And for me, I taught my children and this is what I learned my gifts first go to the lord So when I get paid Our first check if you will has been to jesus. Why because he supplied for me. Why wouldn't I give back to him? So I prioritize the budget And so the lord is first Everything else comes afterwards. And yeah, we've had plenty of times marie and I wear many times You know, you don't have that much and i'm not going to make a big deal about this other than try and illustrate this You don't have that much finances, but that doesn't mean you need to have a lot of money to have fun It just means you need to be creative To find the things that you can do together that doesn't break the bank and we learn to do that I I still remember I was in europe I had saved up. I went to europe just before marie and I got married She's been mad at me since because I could have taken her there on my honeymoon But I had more fun with my buddy nick But I called her up, you know and and uh, actually I wrote her some from some country I was in I was there for three months and I I wrote her and I said when I get back I ain't got no money. I'm not going to be able to take you out. I'm not going so she said That's okay. We can have fun just being together. So She's been having fun being together for a long time She said it she owns it But that's true, isn't it? You don't have to spend a lot of money to have fun You just need to be together wherever it is and that's just a fact So we need to we need to be aware of those things now He goes on in verse nine and he says All the commandments the commandments you shall not commit adultery Murder steal bear false witness covet if there's any other commandment are all summed up in this saying namely you shall love your neighbor as yourself So he gives an abbreviated list of commands These are lists that are related to these commands that are speaking of our duties to other people And so that's what paul is wanting us to know how how are we to continue? How are we to? Treat others verse 10 we're to love them because love does not Harm it does no harm to others Love does no harm to others that fulfills god's intention. He's saying that is revealed in his law In other words love motivates a believer to not take advantage of other people and so how many how many stripes how many problems would be would be settled if we wouldn't Take advantage of each other And so he's saying listen all these commandments which are duties to man He says they're all summed up in one command love your neighbor Treat others as you would be treated yourself Love others show them courtesy show them kindness. Why because that's what you would desire And so you're to be proactive. You're to show them not wait for them to show you You're to show them you're supposed to love them first And they respond and so he's simply saying all the commandments of god Are summed up in this one command love your neighbor as yourself And now as he does that he he goes into another portion to provide motivation for this action verse 11 He says do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep For now our salvation is nearer than we first believe the night is far spent The day is at hand therefore. Let us cast off the works of darkness 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 Put on the lord Jesus christ make no provision for the flesh to fulfill his lust So this is a practical application of what we've been seeing in the verses prior to this Now he says in verses 11 and 12 do this knowing the time now it is high time awake out of sleep That's what he's saying Paul is concerned that they've been lulled into spiritual apathy and because of this he's telling them wake up Wake up out of your sleep So I looked up sleep. What's a definition of sleep? We all know what it is But sleep is a state of inactivity with a loss of consciousness and a decrease in responsiveness to events That are taking place. He's saying awaken Awaken to the things of god and awaken out of the sleep that you're in Awaken from spiritual unconsciousness From inactivity from unresponsiveness. He's saying church be on the alert Be on watch reject complacency and dullness of heart Now jesus said that in mark 13 35 through 37 He said watch therefore for you don't know when the master of the house is coming in the evening at midnight at the Croing of the rooster in the morning less coming suddenly he finds you sleeping what I say to you I say to all watch Now we're to be awake. We're to know the times We're going to know the things that are going on be aware of these things He says knowing the time that word knowing means to understand or to perceive Perceiving the time that word time speaks of a set period of time. It says know the necessity of the moment One is taking place now Know the necessity of the moment the word of god applies to all situations How does the word of god apply at this moment is what he's saying So we're to be people who are aware Of the moment we're living in We know that we're living in the last days and we know we have an allotted time to serve So we're to be wise We're to make the most of our time white because the time is short In Ephesians 5 16 Paul had said redeeming the time Because the days are evil when he says the days are evil the word evil means actively opposed to you We're to redeem it the word redeem in the Greek word is Exact garotso and it means buy back or buy out of the marketplace In other words Christians are to be aware of the spiritual climate We're to be aware of what's going on And so we don't have that much time. We have none to waste And therefore we shouldn't waste time on things that don't matter That's why god redeemed us He says in verse 12 the night is far spent and the day is at hand Time is limited Do not be indifferent In john 9 verse 4 jesus said as long as it is day we must do the works of him who sent me But he went on to say night is coming when no one can work We need to operate while we still have opportunities Here in the united states. We are very slowly but very surely losing our rights I was looking up some things in In, uh, you know in some I go to sources sometimes that can inform me concerning conditions throughout the world and and In certain countries restrictions on evangelism and and you know proclaiming the faith of christ We americans, uh are pretty While we've been built on on biblical principles and so Evangelism has always been part of our constitutional rights We can we can share what we think now a lot of christians have been sinless because they're afraid of being cancelled and all of that That's been that's an odd kind of thing to me The threat of someone not liking me will keep me from telling them about jesus But in afghanistan in north korea and samalia and libya and yemen in pakistan In saudi arabia and iran in iraq and sudan Everyone of those countries and others restrict or forbid christian evangelism all of them And that can happen here We have been already restricted from gathering to worship We have already had that happen. Did you believe i'm looking at some of my gray hairs. Did you believe That in your lifetime that would happen No, of course not. We're in the good old usa That would never happen But did it? Yes Can it yes We've seen it And we've also heard the apologists who say it was for your own good Really at my age, I think I can decide what is my own good I think I can and when it comes to children under 18 I think I can help my grandchildren too Because I've lived a long life and I've kind of seen these charades in my lifetime and the things that are done To oppress and to tyrannize and to steal Rights and liberties. I've seen that I've growing up around that I've seen that I remember the things that took place in our in our in my own lifetime history That's what's taking place right now We're being restricted There's an attempt to silence you We need to be aware of that Christians are being called activists now Why because we reject educational programming Believers are being reprogrammed People who profess a belief in in scripture are being Reprogrammed people who speak their mind are being programmed Jordan Peterson. Some of you are aware of him. He's a canadian psychologist I I think he's He's a professed of faith in christ. He still has a Language problem. I think he's educated enough to learn to declare what he thinks without profanity And every once in a while, I I'll listen to things he has to say and I can't help but believe this guy is brilliant But he has been censored. He's a canadian and therefore the canadian Psych psychological association there in canadas Is is is going to steal take away his license to practice because he has to be reprogrammed because they think he's just too outspoken That can happen here. Don't think it can't that can happen here Some of you who are of college age perhaps in college classes You already know that happens You already know that there's a peer pressure amongst the students and it's also That is generated from the professors Who have an agenda? You know that if you don't know that that's taken place Well, we all should know that And so what's happening? Well, when you reject certain things people get upset at you and call you names That's what they do. So again, I I applaud sonia. She's the president of the chino valley unified school district and she she she has stood up in opposition to um to The rejection of of a parental no a notification concerning the the children's Determination uh to proclaim themselves to be of another gender and all of that She stood up and they've reacted against it and I applaud her. I bless the lord for her But she's received death threats because of the policy They've even not only said they wanted to kill and dismember her but they threatened to kill her children and even her pets And so that's taking place right now in our backyard right here. That's taking place right now And these kinds of things escalate if we're not aware And if we're not responsive There is an obvious move to censor and to silence opposition Now, they just won't publish what you have to say on uh on some of the social media They won't publish that or they they hide it bury it reject it They do that Jesus is returning We have to be busy Doing what we can Hebrews 10 24 and 25 says let us consider one another in order to stir up loving good works Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together As is the manner of some but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching So the time of man's rebellion is about to end. God's reign is about to begin Jesus is returning at any moment where to be busy until he comes Now knowing that crisis returning is to motivate us into action And seeing that the time is short. It's important to share our faith In first Corinthians Paul wrote something very scathing. It's found in chapter 15 verse 34 To the Corinthians. He said awake to righteousness. Do not sin For some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame You've been caught up so much when living in what you call his grace He was telling the Corinthians and you know Those of you who've studied through first Corinthians know that he gives like eight Nine verses where he commenced them and then from verse 10 in chapter 1 until the end He rebukes them because of the things they've been doing and not doing And he says you haven't been faithful and communicating the word of God to others And and he said I say this to your shame Some don't have the knowledge of God not only those who are out in the society and you're not evangelizing But even within your church They're living without Jesus So it's to provoke us to patiently live godly lives as we're waiting in first Peter 4 7 Peter said the end of all things is at hand therefore be serious and watchful In your prayers Jesus is coming back He had said to them let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me and my father's house are many mansions He says he said if we're not so I would have told you I go and prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I'll come again receive you into myself That where I am There you may be also I will come again to receive you to myself So he promised he's going to come so see that he is returning Soon how are we to live well? He tells us verse 12 cast off the works of darkness put on the armor of light Cast off and put on cast off the word cast off those words mean lay aside Lay aside works of darkness we according to Ephesians 5 11 We are to have no fellowship with what are called the unfruitful works of darkness were to expose them So it's not time to backslide. It's not time to return to the old life Please remember what it was like before you got saved Because the enemy has a way of putting into your mind the idea that it was so much better than Is that true? Of course, it's not But he can make you think it was man. I remember when I used to just go out and party I remember when I used to smoke that dope. I remember that was fun, man. We had good times really It was fun for you to get arrested. Huh? It was fun for you to wake up in your own vomit. That was great times, right? No That wasn't great at all And second peter 222 it's happened to them according to the true proverb a dog returns to his own vomit And a cell having washed to her wallowing in the mire You see because before we were saved many of us not all but many of us were zealous for all kinds of evil We were into the parties. We're into the drugs. We were into the drinking the sexual sin and all of that But that was the old miserable days. That's what led us to salvation And we received christ and he received his grace and and we began to pursue him with all of our hearts And so what we do is we look for the blessed hope We look for the glorious appearing of our god and our savior jesus christ. We cast these things off But we put things on we put on the armor of light. Why because we're children of light In 1st Thessalonians 5 5 through 7 he said you are all sons of light and sons of the day We are not of the night nor of darkness Therefore, let us not sleep as others do. Let us watch and be sober for those who sleep sleep at night Those who get drunk are drunk at night But on the armor of light We walk in the flesh But we don't war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal But mighty in god to the pulling down of strongholds casting down imaginations And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of god and bringing into subjection Everything all things every thought into the obedience of christ. That's what we do We put these things down and we pick these things up and we walk in the armor of light Now we already looked through Ephesians 6 which gave to us the weapons of our warfare But when he speaks about these weapons remember our waste is to be girded with truth What is that certainty that god's word Is the truth like it says in Psalm 119 160 the entirety of your word is truth What is the first thing that was ever questioned in scripture? What is questioned is god's word has god set. That's the first question you find in the bible And the question was in the mouth of satan And so question god's truth. That's what we see every day So what we do is we gird our waste with the truth of the word We also put on what is called a breastplate the breastplate of righteousness So we rest in our standing before god In 2nd Corinthians 5 21 He has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of god in him So we have Truth we have righteousness our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace We we we guard our walks the enemies on the prowl. So we remain in the state of constant Alert we have the shield of faith with which we quench the enemy's attacks When he speaks about having the shield of faith, it's the ability to apply everything we believe about god to that circumstance We put on a helmet of salvation. Why because satan is continually bombarding our minds He encourages us to doubt he encourages us to doubt god to doubt our salvation And he does whatever he can in whatever way he can to discourage us as we walk with the lord What do I do? What have I done for all these years? I've learned to dwell on the reality of the salvation that god has given to me When the enemy has whispered in various ways, you're not saved. I've always gone back to scripture and I said no I'm saved because god's word says I am when I trust in jesus christ His word is true. I use the sword of the spirit, which he says is the word of god The sword the sword is to be wielded skillfully and precisely for individual battles And so we put on the armor And we walk verse 13 properly as in the day that word properly is worthy of the message that we proclaim It speaks of that which is appropriate We tell people this is what god says and we live as if we believe it ourselves And that's how we do it. We walk in a sincere appropriate manner And then he says and I'll point this out to you when he says in verse 13 walk properly He tells us what works of darkness are revelry Drunkenness, he said not in lewdness and lust and not in strife and envy These are works of darkness revelry and drunkenness A lot of you understand this word if I say A drunken party A lot of us know what that is Licentiousness and lust that speaks of hopping from bed to another bed. It speaks about unbridled lust When he speaks of strife and envy strife and envy aggressive arguing and contentious jealousy And this is often the fruit of party and in drinking You can go to parties, you know and before you know it Somebody's angry somebody's starting an argument Somebody's wanting to fight And that just happens. You've seen it. Many of you have seen it I've seen it. I've been there. I've done that before christ. Yes That's what parties turn into very often people over drinking people getting angry And suddenly some five foot four 102 pound man thinks he's six foot four three hundred Cheese with me It's crazy, but it's true That's the fruit of parties you're drinking drinking drinking until you get real drunk and the girl You're with or picking up on you're getting her more and more drunk. Why? Because you want to end up in bed with her. That's the fruit of these parties They're not getting together praying and They're doing other things And he says don't do that That's not to be your life. Well, what am I to do? First 14 put on the lord jesus christ make no provision for the flesh Be clothed in the righteousness of jesus Walk in his love Walk in his grace In colossians 312 it says as the elect of god holy and beloved Clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion Of kindness of humility of gentleness And of patience He says make no provision that word provision. That's that's forethought. It's a mental preparation Make no provision for the flesh. I'm gonna go here I'm gonna do this for a little while. I'm gonna do these things and then I'm gonna And then I'll that's what he's talking about Don't give your your flesh or the devil opportunity opportunity to Entice and encourage you to evil don't think and plan Ways to fulfill your sinful desires Calling up that girl and saying, you know, I saw you in church the other day and You know, I asked about How I could get in touch with you one of your friends were real kind and told me I just want you to know that I think you're just a real sweet girl and Like to have coffee with you would you and the girl says Okay And it's just a scam Because you're looking for a way to intrude that's what you're doing. You're scamming her And men I'll say this quickly, but one of the things that I believe is true and I haven't been Disproven yet Men by nature are hunters And the more the challenge The greater the effort Till I can break you down And then leave you because who wants to get married? I don't have to That's a big thing now, isn't it? People aren't getting married. They don't have to Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust Don't go that direction Be wise Be wise Why? Because Jesus is coming In Hebrews 10 37 yet a little while and he who is coming will come And will not tarry revelation 22 20 he who testifies to these things says surely I am coming quickly and then the conclusion amen Even so come Lord Jesus Yield yourself to the lord guys I can't tell you how many painful stories I've heard over the years of people Who got bored? Went back to the world for a while and then paid a terrible price for doing so Hold fast to the lord and look up your redemption is drawing high