The sermon titled 'The Time is Now' by Jason Dohm focuses on Romans 13:11-14, emphasizing the urgency of living a life aligned with God's will. Dohm underscores the importance of loving one's neighbor as a fulfillment of the law and highlights the necessity of waking from spiritual drowsiness to live for God with urgency. He draws a parallel between the gifts God gives and the time He grants, encouraging believers to use both with vigor and purpose. The sermon stresses the need to cast off dark works and embrace the armor of light, living in a way that reflects one's status as a child of God. Dohm warns against procrastination, labeling it as 'the devil's day,' and urges believers to live as if Christ's return is imminent. The sermon concludes by advising believers to put on Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, echoing the call to live as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

Good morning. Our sermon text today is in Romans chapter 13. I believe it is 11 through 14, but I'll start in verse 8. Oh, no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment are all summed up in this saying namely you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Love does no harm to a neighbor therefore love is the fulfillment of the law 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. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of life. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.

Let's pray. Oh great God we thank you for this day. We thank you for giving us this time. God I pray that you would now turn our hearts and incline our ears to hear your words. I pray that you would bless Jason as he brings your word to us, give him the full authority of scripture to preach this sermon.

I pray that you would help us to seek you to put away darkness and to put on light today. Please bless this time. In Jesus' name, amen. The title of the sermon this morning is The Time is Now. Wanted to know what time it is, the time is now.

Chapter 12, the last chapter, Paul instructed us on the gifts that God gives to all the members of His body and Paul told us to use them vigorously. We are to use the gift that God gives us with gusto. If God gives you a gift, it's for the profit of your brethren, and you're supposed to use it with gusto. You're supposed to go for it with the gifts that God gives you. Matthew, This is a little live, if you would do whatever that is.

Now in today's text, Paul tells us that God has given us time. So chapter 12, God has given us gifts, used them with gusto. Now in this chapter, God has given us time, and Paul instructs us to use this God-given time urgently. This is the disposition that the Christian is to have towards the gift of time. With gifts, It's go for it.

Use those gifts with all your heart for the profit of your brethren. Now God has given us the gift of time and we're not supposed to fritter it away. Just have it leak out of a hole in the bottom of the bucket, but we're supposed to jealously guard it and use it urgently. Let's pray. God, I thank you that you have given your people gifts for the blessing of the body, all the members of the body blessed by the gifts of individual members.

I do pray that you would help us to use those gifts with gusto. I thank you for the gift of time. I pray that you would help us not to live like it's endless in this life. We have all the time in the world that you would give us this sense of urgency where we're wide awake, ready to use it to bring honor to you and the world. May it be so in Jesus' name, amen.

We have four verses, we'll go verse at a time. So hopefully your Bibles are still open to Romans 13. Follow along as I reread verse 11. Paul writes, 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. In this verse Paul tells us why it's time to be wide awake.

So if you're filling in the blank, that's how you're taking notes, awake, fills in the blank. Why it's time to be wide awake. Paul says, Do this. What is this? This is paying the love debt of loving your neighbor.

Remember that was really the theme of last week's text was, we all owe a love debt and you pay it but you still owe it, will never be done, loving our neighbor. So the do this is about paying the love debt of loving your neighbor. Well, Paul, what's the hurry? Paul says this, do this knowing the time, recognizing what time it is. What time is it?

It's time to wake up. That now it is high time to awake out of sleep. Kids, whenever mom says it's high time to do something, it's not later that she has in mind. Mom means it's fully time. It's past time that you did the thing.

Paul is saying the same. A believer, it's fully time to wake up out of sleep. It's past time to wake up out of sleep. It's past time to wake up out of sleep. The alarm's going off and you're late.

There's not a moment to lose. This is the time for urgency. That's the whole point here. This is the time for urgency. So two things.

Number one, as a believer, the time is now to love my neighbor. Tomorrow is not the day for loving my neighbor. Today is the day for loving my neighbor. Now is the time for loving my neighbor. Translation.

The time is now to live for God. It's really another way to just say the time is now to live for God Why because love is the fulfillment of the law the law is a reflection of God if you want to bring honor to this world You should do it by loving your neighbor This is how we honor God is we obey the law which reflects who who he is. So you can say the time is now to love your neighbor it's the same as saying the time is now to live for God or as J.C. Ryle would say tomorrow is the devil's day. What does J.C.

Ryle mean when he says tomorrow is the devil's day? The devil loves tomorrow. The devil is always whispering, do it tomorrow. Love your neighbor tomorrow. Okay, so you listen.

I listen. What will he whisper tomorrow? Do it tomorrow. Love your neighbor tomorrow. Only If I bought what he was whispering today, I'll be more likely to buy it again tomorrow." Oh, it's such a slippery slope.

Tomorrow is the devil's day. The devil would have you live to God's honor tomorrow, knowing that if you listen to that, tomorrow you'll be more likely to buy the lie again and put it off one more day, one more week, one more month, and at the end of your life you will have never lived for God with urgency. Never. What a sad thought to think you would come to the end of your life and you never lived for God with urgency. Remember the banner that hangs over this whole section of Romans, chapters, the banner that hangs over these chapters of Romans.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Offering your blood bought life back to God as a living sacrifice is a very reasonable service. What makes it so reasonable? Because of all the mercies of God. And there is only one day to do that.

There is only one day for offering your body as a living sacrifice. Today! Brothers and sisters, don't let it be tomorrow. How out of step with the whole concept of a living sacrifice. I'll be a living sacrifice tomorrow.

Those things don't fit. If you're a living sacrifice, what are you waiting for? Why are you waiting till tomorrow? Studying this text has cut me like a knife in so many ways this week. It's been a hard text to study.

As I see myself in so many ways, waiting till tomorrow, waiting till tomorrow. You'll not let yourself be a living sacrifice, present your blood-bought life back to God today. I have tomorrow. That's number one, as a believer, the time is now to love my neighbor, or the time is now to live for God. Number two, we need to jolt ourselves out of any and all spiritual drowsiness.

You know anything about spiritual drowsiness? I know a thing or two about spiritual drowsiness. Jolt yourself out of it. Whatever dulls my spiritual senses has to go. Awake!

Awake out of sleep. It is high time. Wake up is what Paul is saying. According to this text and the authoritative word of the inspired apostle Paul, if I identify something in my life that dulls my spiritual senses and causes spiritual drowsiness, I must purge it out of my life. I must.

If Paul is speaking with the authority of God and I can put my finger on something in my life that dulls my spiritual senses, that makes them not sharp but dull and causes spiritual drowsiness. It puts me to sleep spiritually. It has to go. Even the lawful things? Of course the lawful things.

Brothers and sisters, radical Christianity is biblical Christianity. The Bible doesn't know anything of the lukewarm faith that we're swimming in, that we're living out. The Bible doesn't recognize it. Radical Christianity is biblical Christianity. It's always been that way.

Just read the New Testament. The claims of the gospel are radical claims. They're total claims. And I live like this. We need this ice-cold water thrown on us to jolt ourselves out of any and all spiritual drowsiness.

Finally in this verse, Paul tells us why it is time to be wide awake. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. There was that day we believed savingly on Jesus, Then there was the next day, and the next day that has brought us to here. And we're nearer to our salvation than that first day when we believed savingly on Jesus. Now, what is Paul speaking of when he says, our salvation?

This salvation that is nearer now than when we first believe. Well, he's talking of himself and the believers in Rome. Our salvation. So it can't be justification. They are already justified.

They are already born again. They are already saved. Understand this. According to the New Testament, salvation for the believer is past, present, and future. That's the teaching of the New Testament what is salvation past or present or future yes it is past and it is present and it is future.

I have been saved. All of my sins have been dealt with in the past in Jesus's work as He went to the cross. I am being saved. I'm under attack. I'm in hostile territory every day that I live, and I am being saved.

I will be being saved. I will be saved. A day is coming when we'll all stand to give account and the final judgment will take place and the final verdict will be rendered and I will be saved. So it has to be this future salvation that is in view because Paul is talking about the future so it can't be the past sense of it or the present sense of it, it must be the future sense of it. So why state the obvious?

I mean it is true by definition then we're nearer to that salvation now than when we first believed. It's true for every tick of the clock. Tick, it's true. We're nearer. Tick, it's true.

We're nearer again. Tick, it's true. We're nearer again. And on and on and on. Why state that?

Paul is saying it because we're so slow to think like this and to live like this. It is true by definition. It's stating the blindingly obvious when you think about it, but we don't think about it. And because we don't think about it, we don't live like it. So Paul says it.

Jesus says it this way in John 9 verse 4. You know what Jesus says in John chapter 9 verse 4. He says, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work." Don't be confused, He's using day and night in very different ways than Paul is using it. I'm not trying to map those two together.

So you can sort of ignore that. But Jesus says, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. He's actually talking about his life. Like I'm alive now.

I have to do the works that I was sent to do now, today, while I'm alive because my life in this body on the earth isn't infinite. Jesus's life is infinite, but the incarnation wasn't infinite, and boy did Jesus know it. He had a compelling sense of it. Jesus meant that He had a finite amount of time, not an endless amount of time, a very time-bound period with a fixed start and a fixed end in his incarnation, in his life on earth. So he was compelled to use the time to do good, to fulfill the law by loving his neighbor.

Just after that verse in John chapter 9, there's a man who was born blind. He gives him his sight back. He loves his neighbor in this profound way that we'll probably never love our neighbor that way. So this fits perfectly with our text. Believers Love your neighbor as yourself, recognizing that it's high time to shake off all spiritual drowsiness, because you only have a finite period of time to love that neighbor, so the time is now.

It can't wait till tomorrow. Brothers and sisters, if we know what the end will be, that Jesus is going to return and take us to glory, but we have No idea when that's going to happen. We've just been instructed to live watching for it. That's the instruction. I'm coming on this day at this hour, but live watching for it.

That's our instructions. Then we can and should live with urgency. The Billy Graham Association, Evangelical Association, used to release movies. This was when I was very young. I think it ended when I was very young, but you used to actually be able to go and see movies that in some ways simulated a Billy Graham evangelical crusade.

And I remember going to one of those. This is probably the earliest memory I have of going to a theater and we watched this and Billy Graham was counting down from five minutes Of course the thing was longer than five minutes But as it would go it's like five minutes and then he would preach some and he would say four minutes What if Jesus was coming back in four minutes and he would preach some more and he would say, what if Jesus was coming back in three minutes? How would you think? What would you do? If there were only two minutes left, how would you think?

What would you do if there was only one minute left? How would you think? What would you do? There's only seconds left! And that's a whole different brand of urgency.

Do you know he's not coming back in five minutes? Now, I saw that movie 40 years ago, 45 years ago, and he hasn't come back. There's been a lot of five minutes. But do you know when he's coming back? I don't.

I've just been instructed to live watching for it. So I can't let that out of view that it could be five minutes. And it's not just about repenting unto salvation. It's will you live for Him? And how would you live for Him if He was coming back in five minutes?

How would you live for Him? How would you spend today if you thought he was coming back tomorrow? Do you know he's not coming back tomorrow? We would live with such an urgency if we knew he was coming back tomorrow. Verse 12.

The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. In this verse, verse 12, Paul tells us what to cast off and what to put on. Off and on fill in the two blanks. What to cast off, what to put on.

The night is far spent. In Galatians 1 4, Paul calls it this present evil age. The now that you're living in is an evil age. This present evil age. And it's winding down.

The night is far spent. It is coming to an end. It is a night of the corruption of human nature. Mankind is plunged into corruption where we hate the things that God loves. We love the things that God's hate.

And so that's dark. It's night, but that's coming to an end. It's far spent. It is a night of Satan's destructive work. He never sleeps.

He's always looking to destroy anything that God loves that's good. That makes it so dark, but that is coming to an end. This night is near the end. Thank God. The day is at hand.

Jesus's return to bring history on earth as it is now to a close is right around the corner from God's standpoint. With Him, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day. So we say, ah that's not fair. You've been saying it's right around the corner for two thousand years. For God it is.

And You have to think, if we're living in the end times, and as you study the New Testament, the use of that term, we are living in the end times, how much longer past 2, 000 years can it go? Well, nowhere says it, but you should know in human history, we're 2, 000 years past when they thought it could be any day. Okay, so that either means God's not going to keep his promises and it's never going to happen or we're so close comparatively. You can think it's proof if you want the people in that time thought the decades that have passed mean that God's not going to keep his promises. They were wrong.

If you think that today, you'll be wrong. He is going to keep his promises and we're 2, 000 years closer to when they thought it could be any day because they were taught to think that way. They were trained to think that way by Jesus. Therefore, because this present evil age is almost at an end and Jesus' return is right around the corner, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Anything that is consistent with this present evil age, cast it far from you.

Anything. If it lines up well with the present evil age, get it away from you. Any of the habits of the old man before you were saved, any of those habits, Be ruthless in breaking those habits. Take no prisoners. Put them all to death.

Kill those old habits. And arm yourself with every defense and weapon of God's kingdom. Take up arms. Every defense of God's kingdom. Take it up.

Every weapon of God's kingdom. Take it up. Put on the armor of light. When Paul writes to the believers in Ephesus, he calls it the whole armor of God. I don't think there's any reason to doubt that he's speaking of the same thing here.

Let's look at what Paul says there. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6. He speaks of the armor of light and calls it the whole armor of God. I'm totally convinced that he's talking about the same thing. I hope you are.

Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 18. Paul writes to the Ephesians, finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wilds of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

The whole armor of God or the armor of light is about being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. God has a multitude of defenses and weapons for his people so that we can stand against all the attacks in this present evil age. Friends, to be spiritually drowsy in this present evil age is to be an easy target right your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour first Peter 5 8 He may not devour those who are wide awake and armed with the defenses and weapons of God's kingdom. He may not devour them. So it is ours to be wide awake and to take up all the defenses and weapons of the kingdom of God.

Jesus could return at any time at any moment So cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light and fight the fight of faith today. Fight the fight of faith today, right now. This is what Paul is saying. Verse 13. I try to be judicious with exclamation marks in my sermon notes.

You know I try not to overdo it with exclamation marks. I have the highest ratio of exclamation marks to sentences of any sermon I've ever written. It's just all exclamation marks, but I think our text is all exclamation marks. Verse 13, let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. In this verse, in verse 14, Paul is calling the believer to an appropriate life.

Appropriate fills in the blank on the handout if you're taking notes that way. Calling the believer to an appropriate life. There is a life that is consistent with being a child of God. This life fits that state. This life appropriately fits that state of having been made the child of God.

In the New Testament, walk means pattern of life. Life patterns that characterize your life. What's he like? He's like this. You might have a great day and live above the patterns that generally characterize your life.

You might have a terrible day and live below the patterns that generally characterize your life. But over a period of time, this is you. Now, are those patterns that generally characterize your life consistent with the state of having been adopted by God. You adopted by God? I am.

Do the patterns that characterize my life, Are they consistent with that state? If yes, I'm walking properly. If no, I'm not walking properly. If yes, your patterns of life are being conformed to life in heaven. I want to say that again.

If yes, your patterns of life are being conformed to life in heaven. Let us walk properly as in the day. The analogy of verse 12, night, this present evil world, day, when Jesus comes back and inaugurates in eternity with him has been carried over into this verse. So when Paul says let us walk properly as in the day he's saying let us walk properly as in life in heaven. Wait is that possible?

You're always talking to us about remaining corruptions. You never come into the pulpit without talking about remaining corruptions. Is that possible to live a life that's beginning to be conformed to life in heaven? Well aren't you praying for that? Matthew 6 verse 10 the Lord's Prayer, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

What did you think you were praying for? And why didn't you think God would answer? When we pray the Lord's Prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, we're praying that our life would begin to be conformed with life in heaven. That's what you what Jesus teaches us to pray for and we should expect Him to answer those prayers. If he said, you pray this, you know he's going to answer that prayer.

Jesus taught us to pray for this, for ourselves and for each other. We should be praying that for ourselves, for each other. Paul, is there another way to say this? There is. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

The mercies of God have brought the believer into this justified state where all of the sins have been pardoned and you have been declared by the judge to be not only not guilty but righteous. The judge says you're righteous on account of my son. Now there is a reasonable service that reflects that. There is a walk which is proper, which is fitting for that state which is appropriate for having been blood bought. Paul continues, not in revelry and drunkenness.

Not in lewdness and lust. Not in strife and envy. Paul is expanding on casting off the works of darkness from the previous verse. Paul says cast off the works of darkness. Paul, what are you talking about?

This is what he's talking about. Revelry and drunkenness are absolutely inappropriate for the child of God. It doesn't fit the mercies of God. Listen to the Greek lexicon for the Greek word translated revelry here. I don't use revelry a lot.

Could you precisely define revelry? It's not in enough usage. I bet not a person in the room could really precisely define revelry. Here's what the Greek lexicon says. A nocturnal, it just means nighttime, A nighttime and riotous procession of half-drunken and frolicsome fellows who after supper parade through the streets with torches and music in honor of Bacchus or some other deity.

Who's Bacchus? He's the Greek god of wine. For lack of a better term, He's the Greek god of partying. So it's the nighttime celebration in honor of the Greek god of partying where you get half drunk and you go out with the frolic some fellows and parade through the street. Christians don't do that.

We have no honor to give to the god of partying. We have no honor to give to drinking in excess losing our senses lewdness and lust are absolutely inappropriate for the child of God This is sexual immorality external and internal. That's all these two things are. When I see lewdness, my mind thinks somebody just told a dirty joke. Lewdness.

In other translations, this Greek word that's being translated is just translated sexual immorality that's better that's actually better it's just X the physical act of sexual immorality external on the face your body engaged in sexual immorality And then lust is the internal version of that. It doesn't quite make its way to the limbs, but it's all happening in the mind. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 5 verse 3, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, which is fitting for saints. Think of how that weaves in with our text. It's fitting for us if there isn't even whispering about sexual immorality.

It's not even named among us. No one would dare suggest that sexual immorality resides among us because of how careful we are and how we conduct ourselves. That's fitting. That's the proper walk. It's not fitting if it is named among us.

Lude-ness and lust are absolutely inappropriate for the child of God. Strife and envy are absolutely inappropriate for the child of God. The children of God aren't brawlers always looking for a fight. Oh, we do fight, we know how to fight for the right things in the right way, but we're not brawlers looking for a fight. We'll fight for the truths of scripture in the right way, but we're not brawlers looking for a fight.

We'll fight for the truths of Scripture in the right way, but we're no brawlers who are itching for a fight. God is teaching us to love peace. Sometimes we know we have to fight, but we want peace. What we love is peace. And God is teaching us to be thankful and content with what we have.

We're not a people full of envy because God has taught us that what we have is what He has given us. If there's something we don't have, he's wisely withheld it for now. So, he's training us to think that way, so we're not a people of envy. Listen to how Peter says it in 1st Peter 4, 1 through 3. Just listen.

1 Peter 4, 1 through 3. Peter says the same thing in a little different way. Peter says, Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. They're pulling from the same vocabulary test.

I dare the homeschooling moms to make this a vocabulary test. Just kidding. They're drawing from the same words, lewdness, lusts, revelries, drinking parties. They're speaking the same language. Peter says, yeah, that's how the Gentiles lived.

We've spent enough of our past lifetime doing all that. All those things that fit in so nicely with this present evil age, we've used up all our time for that. There's only time to live for God now. Spent enough of our past doing things that we're ashamed of. We don't want to do the things we're ashamed of anymore.

Now's the time to live for God. We're waking up to live for God. Verse 14. Verse 14. Paul concludes this chapter.

Paul would say, what chapter? He didn't do the chapter breaks. Paul concludes this section, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Here Paul gives us the way to a new walk of life. Alright, lay out the path Paul, give us a map.

How do we get to this new life? He gives us the map here. Now Paul tells the child of God how to live this life that is consistent with his or her state as a child of God. He made you a child of God, a son of God, a daughter of God. Now he's going to tell you how to live consistent with that state.

Put on Jesus, make no provision for the flesh, period, amen. First, understand that this is a recipe with two ingredients. Not one, two. Not this, but not that, not that, but not this. This and that, two ingredients.

They are to work in combination. The power is in the combination. To put on Jesus, but to neglect making no provision for the flesh is to fail to follow the recipe. To make no provision for the flesh but to neglect putting on Jesus is to fail to follow the recipe and to lose the power of the recipe. The power is in the combination.

In the Christian life there are always good things which must be fed. They grow when you feed them. There are always harmful things which must be starved. They shrink when you starve them and you have to do both. The power is in the combination.

We have to be feeding our souls while we starve our flesh. Try to feed your soul exclusively and not give any attention to starving your flesh. See how long that lasts. Till your neglect over here encroaches on what you were giving all your effort to. Try to just starve the flesh, but not feed your soul.

We're not built for that. That will never last. We're not built to just not do stuff. Not doing things will never be compelling enough to keep you going. No way.

Now what does it mean to put on the Lord Jesus Christ? It means to stay as close as possible to this Savior and Lord Jesus. As close as possible. God the Father has appointed His Son to be the head and the Savior and the help of His people. He will never leave us or forsake us.

He is with us to the end of the age as long as this age continues Jesus is with his people as their head as their Savior as their help. Now wear him. Wear Him. Stay so close to Jesus that it's like wearing Him. Know Him.

Seek Him. Cry out to Him, walk with Him, follow Him, listen to Him, obey Him, rest in Him, Take strength from Him, draw comfort from Him, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you would live wide awake, shaking off all spiritual drowsiness, If you would cast off the works of darkness, if you would put on the armor of light, if you would walk properly with your life matching your state as a child of God, You would throw off the patterns of the old life, then put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does it mean to make no provision for the flesh? It means to deny a foothold to the remaining corruptions that demand to be served and satisfied.

You do have remaining corruptions that demand to be served and satisfied. Paul says, to fulfill its lust. It's making demands. Serve me. Satisfy me.

Deny a foothold. Disempower. Take the high ground from these remaining corruptions that want to make demands, their ungodly demands, and bring you into destruction, deny it the high ground. In World War II, why was the fight on the beaches of Normandy such a desperate fight? If you ever watch movies that approximate the beaches of Normandy, it is horrific.

It is a fight to the death both sides. Why is it such a desperate fight? Because they both knew what was at stake. If the Allies took those beaches, they would have a base of operations from which to extend and defeat the Germans. The Allies knew it, the Germans knew it, so they fought for the death over those beaches.

Because they both knew if the Allies took those beaches, it was the beginning of the end, the rest would just work its way out in time. And that proved to be true. Paul is saying, don't give your remaining corruptions a base of operations to expand and defeat you. Hold those beaches. In a war, a key objective is always to cut the supply lines, meaning you have an army deployed in the field and you have to get everything that they need.

You have to get the weapons they need, the ammunition that they need, you have to get them food, you have to get them water, and if you can cut the supply lines, you've got them. Paul is saying, cut the supply lines. You have a flesh that demands to be served and satisfied. Cut the supply lines. Cut the supply lines.

Starve it out. Deprived of what it needs to have a base of operations against you. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 5, 29 and 30. Jesus said it best in Matthew 5, 29 and 30. If your right eye causes you to sin, Pluck it out and cast it from you, for it is more profitable that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Jesus says don't spare anything. Cut the supply lines. Rob Ventura in his commentary quotes again Tony Merida, a pastor half an hour from here. Ventura says, Merida sums it up well.

Do not plan to sin. Do not daydream about sin. Do not seek comfort in sin. Do not flirt with sin. That is a great summary of what Paul is trying to say here.

Don't plan with sin. Daydream about sin. Seek comfort in sin. Do not flirt with sin. Cut the supply lines.

Don't give any base of operations from these remaining corruptions that are demanding that you serve them and satisfy them you say no you are not king here anymore you were king and the old man I had I had to chase your demands then I don't have to chase your demands now I'm cutting your supply lines brethren put on Jesus make no provision for the flesh. Have three applications. One, Keep Jesus' imminent return top of mind. Live in view of the day when Jesus is coming back. It'll help us live with urgency.

It will help us shake off all, any and all spiritual drowsiness and keep us wide awake. So We'll be thinking, this could be the month, this could be the week, this could be the day. Two. Purge your life of the things that are consistent with this present evil age. If you're a child of God they don't belong in your life, they have no place in your life, they're inappropriate, they don't fit your status as a child of God.

Anything consistent with this present evil age purge your life. Three, the armory of the kingdom is so well supplied. The armory of the kingdom is so well supplied. I don't think the whole armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6 even starts to be a comprehensive list. You can name 20 more things that are in the armory of God for your defense and weapons.

Appropriate them all. Take them all out of the armory of God. Use them all. All first put on Jesus. Know Him, Seek Him, cry out to Him, walk with Him, follow Him, listen to Him, obey Him, rest in Him, take strength from Him, draw comfort from Him, put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

God thank you for this call to urgency. Please forgive me for all the complacency that you knows in my life. Thank you for pulling back the curtain a little bit so that I could see it clearly, more clearly, see some of it more clearly. Help me to hear my own preaching. Help me to apply my own preaching.

Pray in Jesus' name, Amen.