That's the one Paul is talking about here-the same thing he called in chapter 8 "the glory which shall be revealed in us" (verse 18), and "the redemption of our body" (verse 23), and our glorification (verse 30). And we shall be saved from the very presence of sin in the future (Romans 5:9). We are being saved from the power of sin in the present (1 Corinthians 1:18). We have been saved from the penalty of sin in the past (Ephesians 2:8). That's the point of what Paul is saying here: ".for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed." As you know, salvation is in three tenses. But if we keep going back to sleep, life is going to pass us by. The day promises work, and sometimes problems and struggles, and maybe even conflict and pain. Which one is easier? For most people, it's easier to go back to sleep. Or you can roll over and go back to sleep. You can begin to think of the responsibilities of the day, pry your eyes open, plant your feet on the floor and get moving. It's still dark outside, but you sense that day is about to dawn and it's time to get up. You know how it is when you first wake up in the morning. He has just finished encouraging us to love one another, and now he says, "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" (Romans 13:11). Let's listen in, because we need to hear the same challenge. He concludes this chapter with an earnest challenge to wake up and live a godly life in the midst of an ungodly world system. The Apostle Paul was concerned about the same problem in his day, and he is about to deal with it. Things are no different today than they have ever been. Instead of influencing the world with Christian values, they let the world squeeze them into its mold. They just sort of drift through life, letting their values, their attitudes and their actions be dictated by the world around them. If most people around them are insisting that sex outside of marriage is okay, or that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle, or that abortion is a good method of birth control, they'll probably agree. If the people they work with are driven by ambition to get to the top, they will probably set that as their goal as well. If others around them are living for material things, they will adopt the same values. They usually lack any clear sense of spiritual purpose, but simply fall in line with the spirit of the age. And spiritual sleepwalkers are no different. That incident highlights another significant fact about sleepwalkers: normally they are easily led. In the morning, I had no recollection of what had happened. Well, he knew by that time that I was asleep, so he gently led me back to bed and tucked me back in. "Don't worry, Dad, I'm just checking up," I replied. "What are you going to check?" he persisted. "I'm just going downstairs to check up," I answered. When he came out to see what was going on, he realized that I was sound asleep. One night about 12:30 he heard me walking down the steps. He used to study late at night-he was a night person-sometimes until twelve or one o'clock. I had to walk past his door to go down the stairs. My dad used one of them for his study, and it was right at the top of the steps. When I was a kid, we lived in a two-story house with three bedrooms. It amazes me that people can be sound asleep, yet get out of bed, walk around, and in the morning not remember anything they did. Yet every time they still sit there with their arms folded, in a semi-stupor, letting the powerful, life-changing truths of God's Word go right by them. They may be in a class that goes through the whole Bible in seven years or so, and they've been through it six or seven times. They sit with their arms folded, defying anybody to capture their interest and teach them anything. They've gone to church for years, and may even have perfect Sunday School attendance pins dangling down to their belt buckles, but nobody has ever noticed any basic changes in their lives. I'm afraid that some Christians need that same exhortation in the spiritual realm. Live, love, laugh and be happy." Some people need that encouragement on a daily basis. We've all heard the song that goes like that: "Wake up, wake up, you sleepyhead get up, get up, get out of bed cheer up, cheer up, the sun is red. It would happen periodically when I was a kid, and my mother would come into my room and say, "Wake up, you sleepyhead." It was one of her favorite sayings. I'm a morning person I like to get up and get things going, but sometimes it's hard to wake up. I don't think I've ever been a lazy person, but once in awhile I find it difficult to wake up and get going in the morning. Purpose: To challenge us to be spiritually awake and alert, and to live a godly life in the midst of this ungodly world system.
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