Fulfilling the Law through Love

Happy Father's Day. Also from me. Douglas told me to acknowledge it in my sermon. And so I've done my job.

And also happy birthday, Cherry. And I believe Miriam also. Happy birthday. Yes, happy birthday.

Okay, it's hot. My sermon is long, so I should pray. Father in heaven, thank you for this day that you've made. And as we said earlier in the prayer meeting, we shall rejoice and be glad in it, no matter if it's humid hot. Thank you, Father, that you've gathered here us here today.

This is your house, the house of the Lord. Hallelujah. We thank you for your presence. And I certainly need you to help me. Amen.

All right.

Instant gratification, endless consumption. These are the hallmarks of our modern culture and they are also the pillars of our modern economy. It's what the economy runs on. But they come at a price. Mounting debt.

By the end of 2025, global debt, both public government and private debt altogether had soared to a whopping US$348 trillion. That is 348 followed by 12 zeros. It amounts to roughly three times the world's annual economic output and is absolutely the highest level in history. Three times as much as in 2008 in the financial crisis. And debt keeps rising at mind boggling rates.

Now, if you even look at just the indebtedness of nations, for example, Kenya needs to use half of its tax revenues only to pay back its debt. And the debt burden in many Western countries is staggering. For example, in the United States, US government debt alone increases every day by US$7.4 billion, 85,000 a second every day. The US government has to use $3 billion of tax revenue just to pay interest on the debt. And if you combine government debt and private debt, in the United states alone, it's 130 trillion, roughly 1 million per US household.

Now, these numbers are alarming and they're very similar also here in Germany. By the way, the path we're on is not sustainable. And yet it all reflects a culture and a mindset that we as Christians are also a part of. Because all the available research indicates that Christians too take on huge amounts of debt to finance their consumption. So what does Scripture say about that?

How should we as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, live in a world built on excessive consumption, financed by huge amounts of debt? Now, last week, Pastor Martin preached on Romans 13:1 7. And while that passage dealt primarily with the topic of submission to authorities, not so much about monetary debt. Verse 7 that he concluded with is Paul's exhortation to pay to all what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

And our section today continues in this line of thought by urging us to owe nothing to anyone, or as the NIV says it, to let no debt remain outstanding. And this certainly includes loans and credit card debt, in my estimation. Now, just to be sure, Scripture does not expressly forbid the taking on debt, but it definitely does not encourage it either. Proverbs 22:7, for example, says the borrower is the slave of the lender. When we borrow money, we inadvertently come under the authority of the lender, which limits our freedom.

And there is a level of bondage. We're warned in First Corinthians 7, verse 23, I read the NLT. God paid a high price for you. Don't be enslaved to the world. The ESV says.

Do not become bondservants of men. Now we must be careful because Jesus said, we cannot serve two masters, God and mammon money. Now with regard to debt, verses 7 and 8 in Romans 13 call us to faithfulness. Let no debt remain outstanding. We should be trustworthy.

We should pay our bills, our taxes on time. We ought to keep our word, honor written and verbal agreements that we've entered. We should do this because we have a testimony before the world, but even more importantly, because we answer to our Heavenly Father by all means. We should avoid living beyond our means. We should not buy things we cannot afford unless absolutely necessary.

And sometimes it is necessary, like if you start a business or buy a house. But even if you crave the fancy car your neighbor drives, you should probably not buy it if it means you have to take out a loan to pay for it, because you don't know whether you might be able to pay back the loan in the future. Now, as I mentioned, Romans 13 doesn't primarily speak about monetary debt. It it talks about various types of debt. As we've heard, it's paying respect and honor to those to whom they're owed.

And in verse eight, Paul adds something remarkable. He says, let no debt remain outstanding or owe no one anything except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Now, there's so much to unpack in that verse alone. And I confess that I often read the Bible too quickly. I don't take the time to dive deeply into it, to see those nuances and deeper meaning in the text.

How about you? Do you read the Bible quickly? Sometimes well, let's take a deep dive today, even though it's hot. When looking up the original Greek in verse 8, you'll find out that the word translated to love is the Greek word agapan from agape. So now we know what kind of love we're talking about.

If you attended Crossway last December in Hippenwick on the 4th of Advent, you may remember that we talked about this topic, about the four different kinds of love that are generally recognized. And That's I mentioned C.S. lewis in his book The Four Loves, in which he describes Philia, brotherly love or friendship Storge family love or the natural affection that we have to our relatives and family Eros, romantic or passionate sexual love or agape, the selfless, the sacrificial love. Now, agape, of course, is the kind of love that Jesus showed on the cross at Calvary by sacrificing his life so we could be forgiven of our sins and inherit eternal life. And this is also the type of love that John mentioned in his epistle in 1 John 4:8 when he said God is love.

Again, selfless, sacrificial, thinking of what is good for the other. And this is the kind of love Paul refers to here in our passage. So again, Paul is saying that we ought to owe no one anything, not leave any debt outstanding except to agape love. Now why accept, though? Isn't Paul saying we should love?

Well, yeah, of course we know that. But he puts together the word accept with the Greek word agapan, the present active infinitive of the Greek word agapao, to love, which implies continuous, ongoing action. Paul is basically saying that this is a debt we can never pay off, but that we are to keep on paying it. You know, taxes can and should be paid, loans can, should be paid, bills can be settled, there should be an end to those obligations. But with love, it's different.

The more you give it, the more there's still to give. You never arrive at the point where you can say, that's it, I've loved enough. I'm done. That is settled. The 18th century German Lutheran theologian and biblical scholar Johann Albrecht Wengel in his 1742 New Testament commentary, said, amade de dittum immortale, to love is an immortal debt.

So we could read verse eight as owe no one anything except to be continuously loving one another. Keep on paying this love debt. Okay, but then the question could arise, why do we even owe this debt that we can never ever fully repay? I like how GodQuestions.org worded the answer to that question. They're saying we should owe no man anything except to love one another.

Because this is what God has chosen to do for us. He chose to not give us judgment and punish us for our sins. Instead, he chose to love us by sacrificing His Son Jesus on the cross to pay for our sins. Because of this sacrifice, we are forever indebted to God. And we repay that debt by loving him and loving one another.

Now, remember the gigantic debt bubble I talked about earlier? And compared to the love debt owed because of what God has done for us, it's not even as big as a grain of sand in the whole Sahara Desert. Acts 20:28 instructs the elders of churches to pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which He obtained with his own blood. God purchased us back from Satan's domain, believers, with his own blood. Now, how much is the blood of God worth?

God is infinite, isn't He? If we wanted to put a price tag on it, we wouldn't be able to do it. The debt of love we owe is infinite. It is the debitum immortale, the immortal debt. But to whom do we need to pay this immortal love debt?

We owe it to God, right? However, Paul tells us here in verse 8, that we should pay it back to one another. And this is of course also what Jesus said, a new commandment. He said, I give you love one another, as I have loved you, so you also also must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.

And Paul later referred to that as the law of Christ that we are under. He mentioned it in Galatians 6:2, saying we should bear one another's burdens. Now, Jesus self giving love should be that governing principle of the believers. The Christians conduct. And by the way, Paul took for granted that we knew this.

Because, believers, because he told the Thessalonians, now, concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God. Jesus is God to love one another. Now, what is especially interesting in verse eight of our text is that Paul uses two different Greek words that are both translated as another in English. Now why do I point that out? Let's read the verse again.

Owe no one anything except to love one another. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Now, in the first part of the verse, in the phrase except to love one another, Paul uses the Greek word from which describes mutual shared love. You know, something that flows back and forth within a community, like here in Crossway. It paints that picture of believers caring for one another, supporting one another, and living in a relationship where love is both given and received, just like it should be in the church.

And that is what Paul also wrote to the Galatian church. He said, so then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10. However, in the second part of the verse for the one who loves another, Paul uses a different Greek word for another, the word ton hetero, which talks about the other one. Or sometimes in the Greek it can mean the other of a different kind.

This is someone who's not necessarily like you and I, who may or may not be part of the church. Not a believer. Perhaps someone who make us uncomfortable, who may make us uncomfortable, or someone we may not particularly like. The one difficult to love, maybe even the one opposing us, our enemy. Seeing that these two words side by side helps us understand the depth of what Jesus had commanded.

And that Christian love is not only meant to circulate inwardly within the church, the alleles, but also to reach outward to those who are unlike us, the ones hard to love. Maybe the prostitute in the street and the alabaster jar team is a good example the of believers loving on them. And I know it's not always easy. Or the homeless person begging for money. The drug addict or drunk person on the train or bus with that annoying behavior.

The awkward grumpy relative that mocks your Christian faith. Maybe the kid at school who sits all by him or herself in the cafeteria at lunch because nobody wants to be seen with them. It's not cool. Maybe the arrogant co worker or the neighbor whose political opinions we find unbearable. Now I work for Samaritan's Purse Little commercial break and our whole mission is centered around the story of the good Samaritan in Luke 10 who loved on the one no one else would.

Jesus gave us this parable as an example for us to follow. He said, go and do likewise. And he, more than anyone else, put this kind of love into practice. He died for us all, and this is how he showed his love to us, even while we were still sinners, his enemies. Romans 5:8.

Okay, we're still in verse eight. Well, take another look at the end of the verse. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. So that's where Paul used the word ton heteron. The other person, the one not Necessarily like us.

And he says that when we love them, we have fulfilled the law. Paul also said something similar to the Galatian church. In Galatians 5:14, he said, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And by the way, that quote, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That we will also eventually get to in verse nine is taken from the book of Leviticus, specifically Leviticus 19:18.

And I just point that out to say, same concept, same God inspired the Old and the New Testament. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.

So let's get to verse 9. Now let's read it. First, for the Commandments. You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. And any other commandment are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

So again, here Paul is saying, when we love our neighbor, and by the way, the word, the Greek word here is Plesion, Greek, the one who is near in your path, your fellow human being, not necessarily the next door neighbor. Only then, when we love them, we fulfill the law. Now this is something Paul, of course, takes directly from Jesus. Remember the Pharisee that approached him and asked him, which is the greatest commandment? And Jesus replied, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22. Again, if I love my neighbor as I love myself, I fulfill the Law.

And in Matthew 7, verses 12, Jesus gives us some practical advice on how we can put that into practice. Jesus said, so whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Now, this is what people all over the world know as the Golden Rule. And most would agree with it, even if they don't believe in Jesus.

Now let's go back to the commandments Paul lists. In verse 9, he specifically mentions adultery, murder, stealing and coveting. Now, by pointing to them, Paul is clearly referencing the Ten Commandments, or as theologians sometimes refer to as the Decalogue. They always need fancy words too. But what is interesting is that Paul intentionally avoids the first three of the ten Commandments, which deal with our vertical relationship with God.

You know, like not using the Lord's name in vain. Instead, he highlights the horizontal laws that dictate how humans ought to treat one another. And again, he mentions the commandment against Coveting. And again. And this is important because as we pointed out a couple months ago when we Talked about Romans 7, coveting is a sin of the heart.

Murder and adultery, at least in the Old Testament sense, Jesus elevated that standard. But in the Old Testament sense, are outward sins. But by including coveting, Paul shows that loving your neighbor requires a total internal change of the heart, not just conformant outward behavior. How we as Christians treat one another and the ton heteron, the other people, the ones difficult to love, how we relate to them in our heart, which only God really sees, indicates whether we are truly being transformed into Christ's image. And this is what has and is making an impact in our world and opens the door to the Gospel.

Christians agape loving their neighbors has left an indelible mark on the places where they lived. Christians caring for the poor, the sick, the weak, the abandoned, the unwanted, when society just wanted to get rid of them. Christians loving the other change the very fabric of the societies wherever they have lived. Are we changing the fabric of the society where we live, or is society changing us, you might ask? Okay, I get that loving my neighbor part, but why exactly is it the fulfillment of the law?

Well, Paul gives us the answer in verse 10 in our text that says love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Love keeps us from doing our neighbor wrong and instead motivates us to do good to them. Love does not replace God's law, but rather it acts as sort of a protective boundary against breaking it. For example, adultery.

Love protects the other person's marriage, murder. Love protects the other person's life and physical safety. Sex stealing love protects the other person's property and livelihood. Coveting love protects the other person from my own greed and envy. Now, the Apostle Peter said, we heard it earlier.

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. By the way, the Greek word that is translated as fulfilling in our verse in Romans 13 that we're still on as in love being the fulfilling of the law is pleroma. That means fulfillment, but it can also mean fullness. So you could also say that love is the fullness of the law. Love is what gives love, gives the law its substance.

It's what the law always pointed toward. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, do not think I've come to abolish the law. The prophets, I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Jesus has fulfilled the law for us and offered himself as a sacrifice to pay for our sins. On the cross, we cannot say it off enough.

It is done. It is finished. When we trust in that fact, we are born again to new life. And Jesus comes to live inside of us through His Holy Spirit. And here, I believe, lies the deeper meaning of our passage today.

Remember, Romans 5:5 tells us that God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. When Jesus, through his Spirit, comes to live inside of us, God's love enters agape love. Our hearts are being transformed, and all of a sudden we desire different things. And the more the Holy Spirit does his work in us, the more we are motivated to love the other, the ton heteron, even at times, our enemy. Because that is who Jesus is.

He cannot deny himself. He is love. Agape love. You see where I'm going with this? It is Jesus himself doing it in us.

We couldn't do it, nor even want it if we're honest, even if we tried. But Jesus is enabling us to pay that love debt we owe. In fact, he is paying it in us and through us. All glory to him alone. There's no boasting in God's presence.

Every good and perfect gift is from above. Now, just to clarify, by mentioning the law in our verse, Paul is not promoting legalism, like we could even try to earn salvation by perfectly keeping the rules. Instead, he is pointing out that love drives obedience. A checklist of laws might keep us from bad behavior. Outwardly, maybe, probably not.

But only a heart motivated and filled with agape love can really satisfy the deeper intent of the law. Now, we Talked about Romans 7 a couple months ago, as I mentioned earlier, which clearly teaches us that we are no longer bound by the law in terms of having having to fulfill it to gain right standing with God, we cannot do that. But we also learned that the law still applies to us in terms of showing us our sinfulness, our need for a savior, and as a guideline on how we ought to live. Now, if loving the other, the neighbor, fulfills the law, what about loving God? Isn't that even more important?

After all, Jesus mentioned it even before talking about loving one's neighbor. He specifically said we should love the Lord our God with our heart, our soul, our mind. God should come first, right? So why is Paul only talking about loving the neighbor? Now, something the Apostle John said in his first epistle might help.

If anyone says, john writes, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him. Whoever loves God must also love his brother. First John 4 and then there is this, what Jesus said in Matthew 25 about the final judgment.

Brace yourself. I'll read the entire thing. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

And then the King will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me.

I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him and saying, lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, O thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick, or in prison and visit you?

And the King will answer them, truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you've done it to me. Done it to me. Think about that, Jesus. God identifies himself with the least of these so strongly that he says that any loving action done to them is counted as having been done to Him. Wow.

And while looking at the time, I'm running out of it and have only covered three verses. So let's go on reading in our text, in verse 11, which, it's funny, it's talking about time. 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. And let's also read the beginning of verse 12. The night is far gone.

The day is at hand. Now, speaking to the Roman believers, Paul says, besides this, you know the time. What does Paul mean when he speaks of the time? You see, there are two Greek words that are translated as time in our English Bibles. One is the word chronos, which describes linear or chronological time.

You know, clock time, calendar dates, minutes, seconds, the time you can count. The other word is kairos. This word describes strategic or opportune time. It can refer to a decisive moment, a window of opportunity, or a specific season of history ordained by God. It measures quality Kairos is used in scripture quite a bit.

For example, in Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God makes everything happen at the right time at his kairos. When the time is right, at the opportune moment that God determines, he acts. Now, Here in verse 11, Paul uses Kairos for time. So when Paul writes knowing the time, he's stating that they, the Roman believers, and really all of us for that matter, must understand the spiritual season and the prophetic era we are living in. We should be like the sons of issachar mentioned in 1st Chronicles 12:32, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.

Do we understand the times we're living in? Do we know what to do? Well, we know that from God's perspective, we're living in a very special time, the age of grace. That's the period between the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and ultimately his second coming. We're in that season, but do we truly understand its significance and how quickly it might be over?

Now, although Paul uses the word kairos for time rather than Kronos, his words, when you read the text clearly carry that sense of urgency in terms of clock time as well. You can almost hear the clock ticking when you read it, can't you? The hour has come. Salvation is nearer. The night is far gone.

The day is at hand. Paul, I believe, wants us to feel that urgency. We should hear the Lord's footsteps, that he's at the door. In fact, I believe he's ready to enter church. Let's make use of the time we still have.

The days are evil. Souls are in danger. Now wait a minute. Salvation is nearer. Paul says.

Why would he say that, you might ask? I thought I was safe when I first believed on Jesus. Well, yes and no. Yes, you inherited salvation when you first put your trust in Jesus. You were adopted by the Heavenly Father.

No, he will never unadopt you. And when you became his child, you were given the seal of the Holy Spirit, as we learn from Ephesians 1:13. But it's that already not yet tension that Todd mentioned a couple months ago. We have been saved. We're being saved, made holy, hopefully.

And we will be saved at the Lord's coming. Now, the Apostle Peter talked about that when you know when it comes to salvation, when it says in First Peter 1, verses 3 to 5 that believers are being guarded by God's power through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, that is Jesus Second Coming. And that, I believe, is also the salvation Paul is alluding to here in verse 11 our text today, and this is our hope. It's the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:18.

Or as the apostle John puts it in First John 3:2, when he writes, beloved, we're now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appear, appears, will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And this is also what Paul said in First Corinthians 13:12 when he says, for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. That's our glorious hope.

Is that hope alive in us today? Church? If not, why not? Now let's go back to verse 11. The nearer that Paul uses here certainly signifies a Chronos type nearness.

The clock is indeed ticking and there is urgency. Jesus return is definitely nearer now than when we first believed. But that urgency doesn't only have to relate to Jesus second coming, even if he tarries. Our remaining lifespans that we know that are now definitely shorter than when we first believed. The day when we will stand before the Lord and give an account for our lives is closer today than it was yesterday.

Our lives are short. Moses writes about this in Psalm 90:10. The years of our life, he says, are 70, or even by reason of strength 80. Yet their span is but toil and trouble. They're soon gone and we fly away.

And James Wright, what is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:14 we're not guaranteed tomorrow. It's high time to awake out of sleep. Or in the words of Paul to the Ephesians, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Are we awake or are we sleeping? To the early church, sleep mentioned by Paul meant being spiritually lethargic, careless, carnal feeding, our old sin nature, the flesh. And I talked about that battle between the flesh and the spirit a couple months ago. It's a daily fight. If we're not experiencing it, that inner resolve to fight our flesh, we may have indeed fallen asleep, or we have never truly come to the Lord Jesus in the first place.

Peter tells us to be sober minded, be watchful first. Peter 5:8 and Jesus himself warned us, saying, therefore stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. Matthew 24 Jesus said he will come at an hour we don't expect. We cannot pinpoint the day of his return. Now I, as I mentioned believe his return is very close.

I believe it's imminent. And I heard of early church Christians even putting the Aramaic word maranatha on tombstones, which means our Lord come. They lived as people expecting their king. Are we. Are we ready for his return?

Are we longing for his appearing? Or would we, if we're honest? Rather, he tarried a little while longer because there's still too many exciting things in this world we're not yet ready to let go of. Okay, how do we get ready? Church Now Paul tells us in the remaining verses of our text today, let's read them again.

Beginning in the second half of verse 12, it says, 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. Make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. Paul tells us to cast off the works of darkness, and that suggests taking off a piece of clothing, stripping away something that no longer belongs to our new identity in Christ. In verse 13, Paul lists some of these works of darkness as we've read.

And these are very similar lists to also what he mentioned in Galatians 5, verses 19 to 21, where he adds a very sobering statement in verse 21, saying, those who do such things, the orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, sensuality, quarreling, jealousy will not inherit the kingdom of God. Notice that Paul does not only include the obvious outward sins that are often associated with rebellious behavior, but also sins that are not necessarily seen outwardly. Jealousy, for example. I think it's important because believers would never get drunk, or some of them would never get drunk in public, but they will simmer with jealousy inside. They would never be caught in a sexual scandal, but they would stir division, nourish bitterness, carry resentment, nurse rivalries.

Paul puts all that into the list of works of darkness. Darkness can hide behind a holy and righteous facade. Let's resolve not to be like the Pharisees and the hypocrites now. Casting off the works of darkness is not about pretending to be better than we are. It's not putting on a religious costume.

It's not external moralism. It's living from union with the Lord. It's praying daily. Lord Jesus, clothe me with yourself. Let my speech be shaped by you.

Let my reactions be shaped by you. I have to pray that a lot. Let my desires be governed by you. Let my thoughts be brought under your lordship. Paul also tells us to put on the armor of light, which basically symbolizes righteous living, truth, purity, readiness and a life fully surrendered to the Lord.

And then Paul says something profound in verse 14, he says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is really the heart of it all. To put on the armor of light is in the deepest sense, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It is to clothe ourselves in him, to identify with him, to draw from his strength, to reflect his character, to seek to walk in his ways. Jesus is the armor of light.

He is the light of the world. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Lastly, by encouraging us to make no provision for the flesh to gratify its divine desires, Paul tells us to not create opportunities for sinning, to not set the table for our old nature, to not pamper that very thing. We're called to crucify our sin nature, our flesh. You know, if certain habits, relationships, places, patterns, media, entertainment, if that regularly stirs up that sin nature in you, don't toy with it.

Let's not get as close to the edge as possible and then cry out to the Lord to keep us from falling. Paul says, make no provision. Starve the flesh, deny it, rule, cut off the supply lines, run the other way. And yes, this applies not just to the obvious sins. It applies to jealousy, to bitterness, to angry fantasies, to pride, to self pity, to be, to greed, to resentment, to all those small compromises that make the soul sleepy.

Church, we're in a fight. We really are. We're soldiers in the Lord's army. Our battle is against our flesh. And it's Also, as Ephesians 6:10 tells us, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Being a Christian is not a walk in the park. It's not a bed of roses. It ain't no picnic, all those cliches. But thanks be to God, we're not alone. Jesus is with us.

If you truly belong to Jesus, he will never leave you nor forsake you. If he lives in you by his spirit. He will help you love your neighbor, the other person. He'll help you pay that debitum immortal, the love dead. He will help you say no to the flesh.

He'll help you walk in the light. He will help you wake from sleep. He'll help you stand firm. He'll fight for you even as he calls you to fight in his strength. Just ask him for help.

Church Are we looking forward to his coming? Are we looking to Him? The Author and finisher of our faith to come and take us to be with him forever? Or are we still sleeping? Are we looking back like Lot's wife who turned into a pillar of salt?

Is a part of our heart still attached to this life, this world? Are we telling others about Him? Are we hurting for lost souls? Are we praying together? Maybe this coming Friday in the prayer meeting, even if it's hot, Jesus is returning for his bride, the church without spot or wrinkles.

So, church, arise and put your armor on. Hear the call of Christ, our captain. Arise, Shine, for your light has come. Arise, shine for the risen sun. Lift your eyes.

We are his radiant bride. Arise, oh church, arise.

Well, we're reminded today that there's some major events that not only shape our past, but our future. Christ's cross, his resurrection. But he's coming again. And we're reminded of that today. We're reminded to live by this rule of love.

Just wanted to leave you with these verses from Revelation that give us a picture of that. I hope you remember this as you leave and as you go into your week. It says in Revelation at the end of this book that the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let the one who hears say, come. Let the one who is thirsty come.

And let the one who wishes to take the free gift of water, of life come. He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with God's people. Amen.

Thank you so much for joining us today. We hope you have a great day.