Nuggets
- Even if Jesus isn’t cruising in on His cloud tomorrow, now is the time for salvation — even after conversion.
- We are called to change our character.
- The fulfillment of God’s plan is nearer than it was.
- At conversion, we are supposed to stop purposefully doing sinful activities.
Aren’t we good to go after conversion? Why would we need salvation after conversion? This devotion looks at what guidance Paul had to give.
Rise and Shine
“Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Rom. 13: 11 CSB)
Spiritual death is described two ways. It is referred to either as death or sleep. Here Paul called it sleep.
Paul used “… since you know the time …” (Rom. 13: 11 CSB) to convey urgency. Let’s roost on that a second because we could be suffering from a little confusion here.
Jesus did say that no one knows when the end is going to happen. “Now concerning that day and hour no one knows — neither the angels of heaven nor the Son — except the Father alone” (Mt. 24: 36 CSB).
But we have to remember that they were thinking Jesus was returning like tomorrow. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Mt. 16: 28 CSB). So, they thought Jesus was going to grab His cloud and His sickle real soon and come pick them up.
How do we reconcile these two seemingly different statements?
We don’t know when Jesus is going to come into His kingdom. Is He already in His kingdom or does that wait until the end? Tuck gave three different scenarios as to when that could occur.
But even if Jesus isn’t cruising in on His cloud tomorrow, now is the time for salvation. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring” (Prov. 27: 1 ESV).
James put it this way. “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes” (Jas. 4: 13-14 CSB).
Oh, yes. We set our goals and make our plans. We plan for success.
Then God says, “Not going to happen.”
We’ve all heard the question asked — of others, if not ourselves — “If you knew you would die tomorrow, how would you spend today?” How would you use your time? What would be of value to you?
Hopefully, we would use that time to make sure we are right with God. God is real, and what He says in His Word will happen.
But Melvill has another take. What if Paul was writing to disciples (which he was because he was writing to the church at Rome)? What if dead meant non-believers and sleep meant believers?
What does this passage mean to practicing disciples when it says “… because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Rom. 13: 11 CSB)? When do we need salvation after conversion?
Taken that way, it seems like Paul was talking to the nominal disciples. You know, nominal disciples are those boasting they loved God without even trying to imitate Him — those who dig on religion and its rituals without having a change in heart. Then again, he may have been talking about new believers.
Melvill connected this passage to the parable of the ten virgins. Previously, we talked about how the five bridesmaids who didn’t being oil for their lamps did not maintain and grow their relationship with God after conversion.
If the focus is on disciples, Paul was talking about the status of our relationships with God. Melvill thought the “… wake up from sleep …” (Rom. 13: 11 CSB) meant the disciples who were “… not developing them[selves] in the necessary degree.”
Salvation isn’t just fire insurance. We are called to change our character. If we don’t, are we really saved? (Oh, that debate has to wait for a different devotion.)
I think we are ill-served when we see salvation as a one-time shot. “I was saved on February 10, 1970.” Yeah, that is when Phase One happened, and I went from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive. But I am still working out my salvation in Phase Two. I won’t be totally saved and regenerated and receive our reward until Phase Three — heaven.
We have to remember that we are to work out our salvation. “… Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear” (Phil. 2: 12 NLT).
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #2
Work Out Our Salvation (Philippians 2: 12)
Night and Day
“The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light" (Rom. 13: 12 CSB)
Day and night are opposites. We are told to “… discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom. 13: 12 CSB). Darkness is associated with sin.
Darkness can bring apprehension. It can bring false fears — or false relief. We can dream in the dark because we are not running around Ichabod Chicken style. But our dreams may not be focused as God wants them to be.
Lyth gave us a list of what we are to cast off. He wrote,
- “Works that consisted with a time of ignorance.
- “That will not bear the light.
- “That spring from darkness.”
Night is almost gone. Daylight is near. The fulfillment of God’s plan is nearer than it was. But it may be the fulfillment of His plan for us here on earth. It my be the fulfillment of our life’s work. It may be the fulfillment of His plan for all His people.
We don’t know for sure, so we have to be ready.
Oh, yes. We look around at society today and deduce we are in the end times. We hope Jesus is pulling His cloud out of the garage now. We want the sin and the suffering to be over. We want the reward.
Daylight Stroll
“Let us walk with decency, as in the daytime: not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy” (Rom. 13: 13 CSB)
At conversion, we are supposed to stop purposefully doing sinful activities. Remember, Paul had just said the second greatest commandment summed up others. “The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet; and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Rom. 13: 9 CSB).
Here, Paul gave us some things we were not to do. “… not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy” (Rom. 13: 13 CSB).
Upon conversion, we are to start on the sanctification road. That is to lead us to perfection.
Paul said that our walk was important. We need to be sober. Sober is having the character traits of self-control and moral judgment.
I love what Parsons said about being a child of the light. He wrote, “The man acts as though he believed that the true end of life is to glorify God; and hence he seeks to obtain a change of heart and life — cultivates holy principles, practises (sic) holy actions, and has respect in all things to the recompense of the reward.” People of the light have a change of heart and life — we change our nature.
Put on the Suit
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires” (Rom. 13: 14 CSB)
Putting on the armor brings to mind the whole put-on-the-armor of Ephesians 6. But we talked previously that the armor is more for our protection. There is only one offensive weapon — the Scriptures.
To read devotions in the Armor of God series, click the appropriate button below.
We have to remember that it isn’t our armor. The armor comes from God. Therefore, it is impenetrable. Oh, yeah. Satan might bruise us, but he isn’t going to pluck us out of God’s hand.
Bunyan gave us a really good reminder. “Religion is the best armour a man can have, but the worst cloak.” It isn’t about religion — it is about our relationship with God.
How are we to put on Christ? We are to imitate Him. We are to have His character. He is to be our hope.
Thomas has a really interesting take. He argued that sin has stripped us of our true nature/clothes. Upon salvation, we out on Christ’s clothes of moral goodness.
Making the Connections
Paul uses light and dark to contrast the two options we have. We can be children of the light and be children of God. Or we can be children of the dark and be children of Satan.
That is it. There are no other options.
Children of God will spend eternity with God in heaven. Children of Satan will spend eternity with Satan in hell.
To read a devotion in the Hell Does Have Fury series, click on the appropriate button below.
We shouldn’t argue about when the end is finally going to get here. We should admit our sins, believe Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer, and confess God as Sovereign Lord now.
Oh, yeah. We could do a deathbed confession — maybe. But we want to confess now.
Why? “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (II Cor. 5: 10 ESV).
How Do We Apply This?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
We need to make sure our relationships with God are solid. Parry gave us a good indication of that for which we should strive. We should have a(n)
- Deep, intense religious consciousness.
- Active, self-denying labour.
- The mortifying of the flesh, and a clear, unmistakable protest against the evil ways of the world.
We talked about mortifying a while back. Mortify means to place a death penalty on our sins.
How do we complete Parry’s list? We do it by seeking God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
To read Has God Provided Everything We Need?, click the button below.
We need to wake up from our sleep now. The longer we stay asleep, the harder it will be to wake up. That is because, the longer we stay in a life of sin, the harder it will be to break free from Satan.
Don’t put waking up off until tomorrow. We might not be here tomorrow. Do it today.
Gracious Heavenly Father. We do not want to be nominal disciples. We want to have a solid relationship with You. Help us as we seek You. We know when we seek You, we will find You. Help us to grow in grace and knowledge. Amen.
What do you think?
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