“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:13

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Romans 13:11-14

1. Wake up from your sleep/slumber!

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.” Psalm 92:1-2

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12

“The world is too much with us: late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!” William Wordsworth, The World is Too Much With Us (1770-1850)

“The terrible danger of our time consists in the fact that ours is a Cut Flower Civilization. Beautiful as cut flowers may be, as much as we may use our ingenuity to keep them looking fresh for a while, they will eventually die, and they die because they are severed from their sustaining roots. We are trying to maintain the dignity of the individual apart from the deep faith that every man is made in God’s image and is therefore precious in God’s eyes.” Elton Trueblood, The Predicament of Modern Man

2. (Because) salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed (v. 11b); the night is far gone; the day is at hand (v. 12a).

3. (So then) let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (v. 12b).

“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Thessalonians 5:8-9

"Don’t let yourself slip into believing that growing older will magically confer you some gift of godliness. Who you are now-or who you are becoming now-is a pretty good predictor of who you will someday be. If you want to be godly then, you have to learn to be godly now. This is true for young men and women as they ponder marriage and parenthood; this is true of middle age men and women as the ponder retirement and old age.” Tim Challies, 40 Random Pieces of Advice for the Christian Life

4. (So that we can) walk properly as in the daytime.

Not in carousing (excessive feasting and drunkenness)

Not in sexual immorality and sensuality

Not in quarreling and jealousy

5. (To bring this argument to glorious fruition) put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in order to gratify its desires (v.14).

APPLICATION:

1. Wake up!

2. Opportunities exist.

3. Eternity awaits.

4. We fight the squirt gun stream of evil pleasure with the Niagara Falls of God’s wonder in Christ.

QUESTIONS:

1. Do you think our “sleep walking” is more likely today than it was 20 years or 50 years ago? Why?

2. Has our concept of death changed with our understanding of eternity which defines the aspects of our culture?

3. Do you see the pattern of v.13 that would move from that which we do (excessive feasting and drunkenness) → the self focus (sexual immorality and sensuality) → relational breakdown (quarreling and jealousy)?

4. What is the “cut flower” generation? How do we develop a true rooted system?