Our Salvation Is Nearer

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This is a message based on the text of Scripture found in Romans 13:11, "...for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."

Written Excerpts:

Introduction:

It might actually be appropriate to introduce this message with another passage of Scripture found in 2 Peter. 2 Peter 3:3-4 (NKJV) ³  knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, ⁴  and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

Peter reminds his readers that there will always be people who are skeptical about the coming of the Lord because they have heard about it so many times and nothing has happened yet, so it must not be true or real. I’m sure that I am talking to people here today that have grown so accustomed to hearing about the coming of the Lord that it really doesn’t register in your mind any more like it used to.

I read the verses in Romans 13 for my daily devotional reading one day this week, and I felt impressed by the Spirit at the reading of these familiar words, “our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” I couldn’t seem to get the words out of my mind, and finally concluded that the Lord was leading me to speak on the passage today.

I confess to you today that there are a number of questions about the coming of Christ that I cannot answer. However, there is one answer that I do have and I am absolutely certain it is correct… Our final salvation is definitely nearer than when we first believed.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING (Illustrations Unlimited.)The pastor was speaking about heaven, about eternal bliss and the joys that are awaiting each person on "the other side." He paused for effect and asked, "How many of you here want to go to heaven?" All hands were raised except for an eight-year-old boy sitting in the front pew. The minister asked, "Don't you want to go to heaven, too, Son?"

The boy replied, "Yes, but I thought you were making up a load to go right now."

Well, none of knows which load we will be on. Life is uncertain, death may come for us at any time, or Jesus may return. The most important matter of all is for every one of us to be ready at all times.

The passage of Scripture that we are concerned with today is included in a section of this letter by the Apostle Paul in which he urges the readers to live out the salvation that he has been explaining in the previous chapters. Earlier in this same chapter he speaks about the Christian’s duty to respect and respond appropriately to the civil authorities. Now, it appears that he is giving some general admonitions to believers regarding their conduct.

It seems to me that there are two main thoughts expressed in verses 11-14. Paul is urging the Christians in Rome to…I. Recognize what time it is. And to…II. Live appropriately.

With God’s help this morning I want to take a look at this passage of Scripture in Romans 13, to see what truth God would have for us to take to heart this morning.

I. We must recognize what time it is.

A. The time in respect to conditions of the world.

“It is time to awaken.” (11b)

“The night is spent, and the day is at hand.” (12)

Cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 (NKJV) ¹  But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. ²  For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. ³  For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. ⁴  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵  You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. ⁶  Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. ⁷  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. ⁸  But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹  For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰  who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

Night and darkness represent evil and the wickedness that is present in the world. The day represents the reign of righteousness.

B. The time in respect to the coming of Christ.

“Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”

In using the word “salvation” here, the Apostle is not talking about confessing our sins and receiving forgiveness and redemption by faith. He is not referring to present salvation from sin and over the power of sin. He is using the word in the sense of complete and final salvation; the time when our redemption not only removes the moral corruption of sin and its power in our lives, but that aspect of redemption that finally and completely overcomes the curse of sin in our bodies and in our world.

 (Cf. The passage that was read for our Scripture Reading earlier in the service.)

Romans 8:18-23 (NRSV) ¹⁸  I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹  For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰  for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹  that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²  We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³  and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

So, the Apostle is saying that the urgency of his message is due to the fact that the Day of our final Redemption is nearer than it was when we first believed. I don’t know when Jesus is coming back, but I do know this for certain – it is nearer than it was when I first got saved. His coming is definitely nearer than it was when Paul wrote this.

(Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World) The primitive church thought more about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ than about death or about heaven. The early Christians were looking not for a cleft in the ground called a grave but for a cleavage in the sky called Glory. They were not watching for the undertaker but for the upper-taker. Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910)

His coming is nearer than it was yesterday!

II. We must live appropriately because of the shortness of time.

The admonitions that the Apostle Paul gives regarding our manner of living is both positive and negative.

A. Positive admonition

1. Love your neighbor. (8)

If there ever was a time when we need to practice love toward one another it is today. Love is not just some warm, fuzzy, emotional feeling. It has specific qualities, e.g. Commandments 6-10 (see vv. 8-10). This is no time to be embroiled in strife, bitterness, grudges, anger and hatred. Jesus is coming! We need to get rid of such attitudes.

2. Put on Christ (v. 14)

Lit. “clothe yourself”

Live our lives like Jesus in all His love and compassion and purity.

B. Negative admonition

1. Don’t live like the world; the deeds of darkness (v. 13)

Romans 13:13 (NLT) ¹³  Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy.

One of the things that troubles me, dear friends, is the fact that it is getting harder and harder these days to distinguish between “saints” and “sinners” because of the way so-called Christians are living. God is clearly telling us Christians, here in verse 13, that our conduct must be clearly different from the conduct of the darkness around us.

2. Don’t make provision (plans, thinking and scheming) to satisfy the desires of the flesh. (v. 14)

This is the way I understand Paul’s emphasis here: How much different would our churches, homes and society be today if every person that names the name of Christ would spend as much energy planning and “scheming” to model the life of Christ as we do planning and thinking about satisfying our fleshly desires?

Conclusion:

Our final salvation, our completed redemption is getting nearer and nearer. I don’t know when Jesus is coming back, but His coming is closer than it was yesterday! I don’t know how much more time I have to live in this world, but I’m one day closer to my death than I was yesterday. I want to be ready.

(Corrie ten Boom, 1892-1983) “We are not a post-war generation; but a pre-peace generation. Jesus is coming.” (Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World)

I have chosen a song about going to heaven as our closing song today, because this message is all about getting ready for another world. It is all about being ready when Jesus comes, or when He calls us home. (My Savior First of All, p. 768)