High Time

(It has been requested that the sermons be provided in print format, so I'm going to try and honor that request by posting them to the BLOG each week.  This sermon was preached February 21 2016 at FBC:)

Read - Romans 13:11-14

Key Verse - 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. (Romans 13:11-12)

Key Thought - We're running out of time to serve the Lord, and need to get busy for Christ now. 

Introduction

Procrastinate - to delay or postpone action; to put off doing something.
Procrastination - the action of delaying or postponing something.
Procrastinator - one who delays or postpones something.

Every year at tax time I'm reminded of a commercial that I've seen only a couple of times, and wish they would run again. It was an H&R Block commercial that came out during tax time. Imagine, if you will, the scene – a living room where a family is seated watching television. But the television is so quiet that you cannot hear it at all. They are staring at the screen, but there is no sound. They all appear extremely nervous, and periodically one will venture to speak, but only in the slightest of whispers, so that it is nearly impossible to be heard. The clock is ticking in the room and that is the only sound that can be heard. 

Everyone looks nervous. Even the dog looks nervous. Suddenly a door crashes open on the second floor, and a horribly distraught looking father comes rushing to the banister and screams desperately to his cringing family, "Can I please have some quiet around here?!?" The H&R Block voiceover man then says something like, "Don't wait until the last minute, let H&R Block do your taxes for you."

There are several interesting topics in Romans 13. The first 7 verses speak to us about the Christian's response to and responsibility toward authority - specifically civil authority. 

Then, in verses 8-10, we have some instruction about love. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8) There is also some good truth regarding money, especially the Christian's proper handling of debt, but the primary truth is about the "debt" of love we owe others. 

Now as we come to the last section in chapter 13, verses 11-14, we find a clear warning against procrastination. Like the rest of the chapter, Paul is talking about Christians and Christian living, warning that we are running out of time to serve the Lord, and need to get busy for Christ now. But we might make application to those not yet saved, for procrastination for them has eternal consequences. To procrastinate about becoming a Christian will land you in hell. 

Well, let's concentrate on three words from the text - NOW, NEARER, and NIGHT. They all hammer home the same thought – We're running out of time to serve the Lord, and need to get busy for Christ. 

NOW

NOW it is high time to awake out of sleep; for NOW our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11)

Do you hear the urgency in Paul's words? He is saying here that we are running out of time.

Did you notice that twice in vs. 11 Paul used the word NOW?  NOW it is high time.  NOW our salvation is nearer.The whole verse is brimming with urgency. Paul is saying that the alarm clock is sounding. There is no time left for the snooze button. The church... in America, around the world, and RIGHT HERE IN RANDOLPH needs to wake up.

That’s what NOW says. NOW says that time is up. NOW says that no time remains. NOW it is high time to awake out of sleep. It is a vivid picture of urgency. 

In J.R.R. Tolkien's wonderful trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”, there is a great illustration of NOW. At the end of the trilogy, we see Frodo Baggins gazing into the depths of Mount Doom. He needs to throw in the ring, and destroy it and evil with it forever, but he procrastinates… he is unwilling to do so. I always think that is a great picture of how we oftentimes wrestle with NOW. Samwise Gamgee’s words, “what are you waiting for,” say it so well. What, indeed? NOW is when we MUST to do things, but we struggle with NOW.

Bartimaus is another example of NOW. We learn his story in Mark 10:46-52. He had one chance as Jesus passed by. 

Zaccheus is yet another example of NOW. He had one opportunity, and climbed up into a tree to avoid missing it. You can read that story in Luke19:1-10. 

NOW! It's high time.

When is the right time for a person to come to Christ?

NOW!

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

When is the right time for a Christian to stop dabbling in the world, and start living for Christ?

NOW!

Take a look at Romans 13:12-14 and you'll see Paul making this point. 

NOW! It's high time.

It's a very interesting and compelling word, isn't it? Do you see the urgency in it? Does it not cause you, and me, and all of us as a church, to see the need to wake up?

NOW it is high time to awake out of sleep; for NOW our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11)

Jerry Harmon, our missionary in Puerto Rico, told me once that in the cultures he ministers to there is a word that is nearly ubiquitous in its use. And that is the word mañana. Tomorrow. I'll handle it mañana. 

In the musical “Annie”, the title character sings a song which has become quite well known in our culture. She sings “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow, it's only a day away.” 

But Paul reminds us here that we are not guaranteed tomorrow, and that there is not always going to be a tomorrow, at least on this earth. It's not always just a day away.

Brothers and sisters, let us learn from this word NOW. Let us train ourselves to see the urgency in the word. Let us wake up, NOW. Let us stop presuming upon God's patience, 

NOW. 

It's high time!

NEARER

for now our salvation is NEARER than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11)

Now there's not a whole lot of difference between the words NOW and NEARER, at least as far as Paul's argument in these verses is concerned. But maybe there is a slightly different nuance... a word picture, to help us understand the urgency of these things. 

You see, I believe he's talking about the nearness of the return of Christ... the nearness of the fulfillment of and completion of God's plan.

Marvelous message we bring,

Glorious Carol we sing,

Wonderful word of the King -

Jesus is coming again!

Jesus IS coming again. You know that, right? Prophecy after prophecy says so. Promise after promise tells us his return is fact, and it is imminent. There is not a single Bible prophecy that needs to be fulfilled before the rapture occurs, and so it could happen any minute. It could happen during this minute. 

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. *‭(Acts‬ ‭1:10-11‬ ‭NKJV‬)

For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

There are a lot of interesting words used when we talk about the return of Christ. I just used some of them - words like PROMISED... PROPHECY... IMMINENT. All those are great words describing some aspect, or some truth about the second coming of Christ. But the text contains a word that I find interesting in its own right, and that's the word NEARER. Every day Christ's return gets NEARER. And if we are wise, and if we are paying attention, that fact should motivate us.

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 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. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 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, but let us watch and be sober. (‭‭I Thessalonians‬ ‭5:1-6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

There's a railroad crossing north of my home, which I must cross every morning on my way to work. As I approach it, I look both ways and if there are no trains coming I cross without the slightest concern. Sometimes, I see a train way off in the distance. I see it's light coming toward me. But it's so far off that I don't pay much attention to it and I just cross anyway. From my teenage years I remember a day, though, when my father was driving a truck and I was a passenger in the passenger seat. We approached that very same railroad crossing. My father looked to the left, and there was no train coming. Without turning his head to the right, I heard him say, "Is there anything coming?" To this I replied, "Yes." Although he denies this to this day, he then proceeded to press down on the accelerator and drive across the tracks! And although I deny it to this day, I'm sure I said some things loudly and rapidly at that point, because that train was NEAR. And every second was getting NEARER!

The urgency of the matter was clear to me. It was high time to get off those tracks. The train was not far away, it was near... NEARER... TOO near.

It's been over 2000 years since Jesus ascended into heaven, and the angel said to those standing around that "he will come again as you saw him go." Delay, the length of time intervening between the promise and the fulfillment, can make us complacent. But the fact that Paul is trying to press upon us in this text is that it is nearer now! 

We must fight complacency, and recognize the urgency of the matter.

Remember Jesus parable of the 10 virgins? Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. (Matthew 25:1-13)

With each passing moment, the bridegroom’s coming was NEARER. But with each passing moment, their complacency, rather than their sense of urgency, grew.

Solomon warned, Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11)

Brothers and sisters, let it not be so with us.

...it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is NEARER than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11)

NIGHT

The NIGHT is far spent, the day is at hand. (Romans 13:12)

It has been night in this world since the fall in the garden of Eden. Since sin entered the world it has been night.

In the upper room, when Jesus had instituted the Lord's Supper, and after He had washed the feet of the disciples, He identified Judas Iscariot as the one who would betray him, and said "what you do, do quickly.” Then John, in his account of these events, points out that Judas went out, and then he says "and it was night." (John 13:30)

Such a picture of the world in which we live! The world in which the Prince of darkness holds sway. A world in which we seem to walk in endless night. 

Ah, but Paul here gives us the wonderful reminder that the night will soon end for believers, and turn to endless day. 

And again, the point Paul is making in using the word NIGHT here is the same point that he's already made - time is growing short. 

NOW is when we ought to be doing something, because the coming of Christ is NEARER. His illustration using night and day... the NIGHT is drawing to a close... the day is upon us, is simply to reinforce that point.

So what should we do as the night draws to a close? We should wake up!

it is high time to awake out of sleep (Romans 13:11)

That's what we SHOULD do. But some of us struggle with that. We procrastinate. We see no urgency, and we hit the snooze button again and again and again. It's one thing to procrastinate on your taxes. It can get you into trouble with the IRS. But procrastinating on the things Paul is describing can cost you your soul. You will find yourself in hell. 

it is high time to awake

I recall a certain teenage boy, who shall remain nameless, who used to live in my house. Every morning I would try to roust him from slumber to go to school, and every morning he would procrastinate and refuse to get out of bed. He would not wake up. Until one day when, after He had ignored my summons, I calmly walked into his room with a glass of ice water and poured it in his face as he slept. Suddenly he understood the urgency of the matter. From that day on, all I needed to do was turn on the tap in the bathroom, and the night of slumber would end, and he would be standing in his doorway. By the way, parents, it's a method I heartily recommend. It works.

Conclusion

So, three words – NOW, NEARER, and NIGHT. And though they might address it in slightly 

different ways, they're all telling us the same thing – there is an urgency about our business as believers, and we need to get at it.

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. (Romans 13:11-12)

If you are not yet saved, then I implore you to consider the urgency of this matter. You're not guaranteed tomorrow. You have no hope that your time will be prolonged. The Bible clearly states that there is an end in view. You need to trust Christ, now, because the return of Christ, or your death, either of which signal the end of your opportunity to be saved, is nearer now than when you walked in the door. Will you not trust Christ today? Will you not fly to him today, now, before it is everlastingly too late?

If you are a believer, then I wonder do you see the urgency of serving Christ before it is too late? Sometimes we put off serving Christ, as if there's always going to be another year. We are nowhere guaranteed that. My brother, my sister, will you see the urgency to serve God now?

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. (Romans 13:11-12)

NOW, NEARER, and NIGHT. 

High time!