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Wake-Up-and-Get-Dressed-Msg-34-44 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Let's just sit quietly in the Lord's presence for a
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Speaker 1: few minutes. The Prince of the Prophets wrote in Quietness
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Speaker 1: and confidence will be your strength. I have learned over
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Speaker 1: the years that there is a wonderful link between quietness
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Speaker 1: and confidence. At the same time, with constancy of movement
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Speaker 1: and noise and activity and sound, there can be a
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Speaker 1: loss of confidence. With a group of people the other
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Speaker 1: evening after enjoying a Beethoven's ninth the Symphony, and one
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Speaker 1: of the individuals at our tables said, I think one
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Speaker 1: of the reasons we do not enjoy absolute silence is
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Speaker 1: we're afraid, because in silence you self examine, and we're
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Speaker 1: uneasy with what we discover. My hope is that through
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Speaker 1: the season, you'll not only know the Lord better, you'll
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Speaker 1: come to know yourself better, and there will be a
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Speaker 1: growing awareness of strengths that you can begin to really cultivate,
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Speaker 1: and weaknesses you can address. And we all have both.
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Speaker 1: Paul writes of this in the thirteenth of Romans, as
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Speaker 1: he very practically addresses the subject of waking up and
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Speaker 1: getting dressed. What is involved in both? And we shall
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Speaker 1: address both together as we hear from these last four
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Speaker 1: verses of Romans thirteen, beginning at verse eleven. Please stand
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Speaker 1: as we, out of respect for God's word, stand for
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Speaker 1: the reading of it. Romans thirteen eleven. Do this knowing
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Speaker 1: the time that it is already the hour for you
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Speaker 1: to awaken from sleep. For now salvation is nearer to
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Speaker 1: us than when we believe the night is almost gone
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Speaker 1: and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside
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Speaker 1: the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
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Speaker 1: Let us behave properly as in the day, not in
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Speaker 1: carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not
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Speaker 1: in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 1: and make no provision for the flesh in regard to
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Speaker 1: its lust. Hey, God, honor the reading of his word,
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Speaker 1: the preaching of it, and the living out of these truths.
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Speaker 1: You may be seated. This is the season of giving.
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Speaker 1: It's appropriate that we come to a time of giving.
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Speaker 1: It is also a season of receiving, isn't it. I
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Speaker 1: think the greater joy is in the giving, except when
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Speaker 1: it comes to salvation. The greatest of all joys is
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Speaker 1: the receiving of the gift of eternal life. And that
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Speaker 1: is found in a person, not a church, not a book,
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Speaker 1: not a relationship with others you admire. Not in giving
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Speaker 1: up your sins or trying to be pure and holy,
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Speaker 1: you can do neither. It's in receiving Jesus as your savior.
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Speaker 1: So this is a time set aside for God's people
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Speaker 1: to enjoy one of the many benefits and blessings of
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Speaker 1: the Christian life, the giving of our goods, of our substance,
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Speaker 1: of our provision of our money to God. Maybe battle Father,
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Speaker 1: you are many things to us. Your son has been
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Speaker 1: in many roles in our lives. Savior, yes, Savior from sin.
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Speaker 1: If we live to be two hundred, we would never
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Speaker 1: tire of thanking you that the Savior has invaded our lives, intercessor.
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Speaker 1: Having come in, Your son intercedes for us in ways
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Speaker 1: that we could never put into words. Thank you for
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Speaker 1: his role, our intercessor, coming King. What hope we have
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Speaker 1: that the Lord himself, your son, our Savior, our intercessor,
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Speaker 1: will descend with a shout with the voice of the
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Speaker 1: arc Angel, and we shall rise and we shall be
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Speaker 1: with him forever. But today especially we thank you that
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Speaker 1: he is our shepherd as we in the season Acknowledge
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Speaker 1: marries a little lamb who came white as snow. We
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Speaker 1: pause to worship him at this time for feeding us
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Speaker 1: the good word, like a flock would be fed by
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Speaker 1: the shepherd. And that's why we give as we do
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Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus. I pray everyone said Amen.
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Speaker 1: With all the noise and activity and movement of our times,
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Speaker 1: it is easy to sort of tune everything out and
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Speaker 1: become well, I may as well say it dead in
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Speaker 1: the head, just sort of sleepily move through life, taking
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Speaker 1: care of only the urgent things and missing the important ones.
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Speaker 1: How preoccupied we can become. Jim Dobson years ago wrote
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Speaker 1: a book called Straight Talk to Men and their Wives,
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Speaker 1: and in it he addresses this very issue of how
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Speaker 1: men can just check out, just be in another world
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Speaker 1: to try to restrain yourself, ladies, as I explain this.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he says that story typifies many marriages. The
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Speaker 1: wife screaming and clawing the air and writhing in pain.
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Speaker 1: The husband oblivious to her panic and her needs. He's
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Speaker 1: preoccupied with his own thoughts, not realizing that a single
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Speaker 1: step but to the right or left could alleviate the crisis.
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Speaker 1: I never ceased to be amazed, he writes, and just
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Speaker 1: how deaf a man can become under these circumstances. Then
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Speaker 1: he tells this unbelievable story. I know of a gynecologist
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Speaker 1: who is not only deaf, but blind as well. He
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Speaker 1: telephoned a friend of mine who is also a physician
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Speaker 1: in the practice of obstetrics and gynecology. He asked for
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Speaker 1: a favor. My wife has been having some abdominal problems
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Speaker 1: since she's in particular discomfort this afternoon, he said, I
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Speaker 1: don't want to treat her my own wife, and wonder
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Speaker 1: if you'd be willing to see her for me. My
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Speaker 1: friend invited the doctor to bring his wife for an examination,
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Speaker 1: whereupon he discovered are you ready for this, that she
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Speaker 1: was five months pregnant. Her obstetrician husband was so busy
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Speaker 1: caring for other patients that he hadn't even noticed his
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Speaker 1: wife's burgeoning pregnancy. I must admit wondering how in the
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Speaker 1: world this woman ever got his attention long enough to conceive.
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Speaker 1: We are never too preoccupied for that, are we. Several
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Speaker 1: years ago, the president of Columbia University sort of stunned
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Speaker 1: his audience when he, in a simple way said, I
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Speaker 1: divide the world into three categories, the many who watch
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Speaker 1: things happen, the few who make things happen, and the
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Speaker 1: vast majority of those who have no idea in the
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Speaker 1: world what is happening. Put another way, I think he
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Speaker 1: divided the world into observers, shakers and movers, and those
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Speaker 1: who just don't bother to wake up. That describes some
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Speaker 1: of you. That's some of you. Oh, you live in
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Speaker 1: the world. You know that things are happening, But to
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Speaker 1: just keep it at a cool distance. No reason to risk,
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Speaker 1: no reason to get involved. That's how trouble starts, no
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Speaker 1: reason to make waves. Billy Graham, in an outstanding book,
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Speaker 1: World of Flame, says it better than most. Mister average
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Speaker 1: man is comfortable in his complacency and as unconcerned as
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Speaker 1: a silverfish ensconed on carton of discarded magazines on world affairs.
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Speaker 1: Man is not asking any questions because his social benefits
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Speaker 1: from the government give him a false security. This is
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Speaker 1: his trouble and his tragedy. Modern man has become a
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Speaker 1: spectator of world events, observing on his television screen without
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Speaker 1: becoming involved. He watches the ominous events of our times
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Speaker 1: past before his eyes while he siffs his beer in
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Speaker 1: a comfortable chair. He does not seem to realize what
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Speaker 1: is happening to him. He does not understand that his
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Speaker 1: world is on fire and that he is about to
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Speaker 1: be burned with it. That's some of you. You do
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Speaker 1: not realize that you have fallen asleep at the switch.
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Speaker 1: You fail to realize role you're to fill in your family,
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Speaker 1: married or unmarried, in your family, with your relatives, with
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Speaker 1: your children, with your parents. It's just business as usual.
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Speaker 1: Will stay out of the way, and someday we'll just
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Speaker 1: die and leave a good looking corpse. Not a good plan.
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Speaker 1: I love the words of Edmund Burke. All that is
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Speaker 1: necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men
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Speaker 1: and women to do nothing. If I had the time,
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Speaker 1: I would turn you back to First Chronicles twelve, the
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Speaker 1: ancient Old Testament book that is a chronicles chronicle of events,
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Speaker 1: and I would point out a small band of men
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Speaker 1: called the Sons of Isakar verse thirty two. Sons of Issachar,
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Speaker 1: we read, understood their times and knew what Israel ought
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Speaker 1: to do. That's the kind of men I want around me.
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Speaker 1: Give me a band of men who have discernment and
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Speaker 1: understand our times, and they have direction and discipline and
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Speaker 1: knowing what we ought to do about it. Our world
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Speaker 1: is on fire. We must awakened to that. I'm not
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Speaker 1: asking that become disconnected fanatics. You know me better than that.
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Speaker 1: I'm just saying this is a place for passion. There
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Speaker 1: is a need for waking up. Paul saw this even
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Speaker 1: in the ancient world of Rome, back in that mid
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Speaker 1: first century era, and so as he came to the
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Speaker 1: end of a very practical section where he has addressed
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Speaker 1: the importance of loving one another, loving those that are alike,
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Speaker 1: those that are different, those who are a part of
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Speaker 1: our lives, those whom we hardly know, loving one another,
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Speaker 1: loving one another. That was the message last time. He
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Speaker 1: says to us at the end of the same context,
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Speaker 1: do this why, because the hour is soon to come
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Speaker 1: when you will answer to the one who is your savior.
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Speaker 1: In fact, the day of opportunity is upon us. Don't
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Speaker 1: delay and waking up. We often think of the apostle
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Speaker 1: Paul as a great mind, and he was that, a
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Speaker 1: great theologian for sure. Aside from Jesus, there was none
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Speaker 1: brighter in the first century, the one who literarily contributed
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Speaker 1: more to the New Testament than any other individual, the
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Speaker 1: one who formed and shaped world missions. As the beginning
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Speaker 1: point of that, here is Paul, very practical writing word
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Speaker 1: pictures that hold our attention right to the end of
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Speaker 1: the chapter. This word picture is a very practical one.
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Speaker 1: It's a word picture designed to encourage purity of life
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Speaker 1: in light of Jesus soon coming and the condition and
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Speaker 1: times in which we live. It's a strong appeal for purity.
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Speaker 1: The hour is upon us, so I decided I would
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Speaker 1: just stay with the word picture and help you get
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Speaker 1: up in the morning. We're gonna hear the alarm. We're
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Speaker 1: going to awaken from sleep. We're gonna check the time.
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Speaker 1: We're gonna then stand in front of our closet and
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Speaker 1: look at the clothing available. We're gonna see which garments
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Speaker 1: to set aside, which wants to put on, and then
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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about at the end how to finish well.
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Speaker 1: It's all a part of the word picture in this
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Speaker 1: section of scripture, and I get it from verse eleven.
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Speaker 1: Awaken from sleep. So let's start with the alarm. I
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Speaker 1: have to tell you out in my pickup truck, I
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Speaker 1: have a little alarm clock. I was tempted to bring
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Speaker 1: with me, but I thought, aw, TACKI can you be
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Speaker 1: in an illustration? I was gonna, you know what I
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Speaker 1: was gonna do, pull out the stimuliti and some of
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Speaker 1: you would literally wake up. But we don't have enough
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Speaker 1: glycering tablets to go around today to take care of you,
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Speaker 1: who might drop over if you woke up. But let's
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Speaker 1: imagine an alarm going off. It's sounding in verse eleven,
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Speaker 1: Do this, do what love your fellow man and woman?
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Speaker 1: Do this knowing the time, it's already the hour. Say
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Speaker 1: the word time. Two words Paul could have used when
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Speaker 1: he came to that term. One is kronos, from which
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Speaker 1: we got our word chronology. It's the time you see
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Speaker 1: on your wristwatch. This is the time the old clock
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Speaker 1: rings in your hallway. That's the kronos time chronology, calendar time.
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Speaker 1: The other is the word chiros. Sounds like the first one,
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Speaker 1: but it's nothing like it. This is kind of time,
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Speaker 1: quality of time. That's the word Paul uses. Do this
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Speaker 1: knowing the kind of time in which we live. Daniel
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Speaker 1: writes of God knowing the times and the seasons. Every
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Speaker 1: generation has its time, has its kind of time. The
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Speaker 1: early part of the twentieth century was a kind of time.
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Speaker 1: The latter part of the twentieth was a kind of time.
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Speaker 1: This early part of the twenty first is a kind
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Speaker 1: of time. First century was a kind of time. To
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Speaker 1: Paul Christ's return was imminent at any moment in light
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Speaker 1: of that, in light of the kind of time in
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Speaker 1: which we live. Listen to the alarm. By the way,
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Speaker 1: it's an internal alarm. It has no snooze button. The
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Speaker 1: guy that invented the snooze button didn't understand, did he.
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Speaker 1: It isn't supposed to go off. It's supposed to keep ringing.
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Speaker 1: Why so you'll wake up. When I was in high school,
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Speaker 1: I was a drum major in my senior year of
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Speaker 1: our high school band. I loved that role. I loved
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Speaker 1: the instruments, and I love the sound of the band,
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Speaker 1: and I admittedly loved leading the band. You wear the
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Speaker 1: funny hat out front, You throw that baton around, which
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Speaker 1: I dropped more than I threw around. And we had
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Speaker 1: a ballgame at another city. We went there on the train,
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Speaker 1: and knowing that we had a parade on Saturday morning,
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Speaker 1: when we got back to Houston, our conductor said to us,
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Speaker 1: that is the conductor of the band said to us
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Speaker 1: on the way back, you guys, listen to me. Don't
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Speaker 1: go to bed tonight. We're gonna get back really really late,
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Speaker 1: like early in the morning. I want you downtown Houston
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Speaker 1: at six point thirty, so don't even risk going to
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Speaker 1: bed because you won't wake up. I want the full
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Speaker 1: band there. He looked right at me when he said
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Speaker 1: I want the full band there. I thought, shh, I'll
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Speaker 1: wake up. What's a problem, you know? I remember he
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Speaker 1: said six thirty. So I go home. My folks are
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Speaker 1: gone for the weekend. My sister's away at college. My
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Speaker 1: brothers moved away, so I'm all alone. I set the
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Speaker 1: alarm at eleven thirty. That morning, I woke up to
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Speaker 1: the ringing of a telephone. It was my buddy's after
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Speaker 1: the parade, who informed me I used to be the
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Speaker 1: drum major of the high school band. The following Monday,
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Speaker 1: the conductor had a few words to share with me.
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Speaker 1: I'll not share with you today. What was the problem?
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Speaker 1: I slept through the alarm. I didn't even allow the
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Speaker 1: alarm to do what it was supposed to do. It
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Speaker 1: ran down. They had pounded on my windows and doors
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Speaker 1: that rung the doorbell till their finger got numbed, and
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Speaker 1: they got tired of try, and they could see me
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Speaker 1: in the bedroom through the window. Wake up, and I
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Speaker 1: was out of it, dead in ahead. The whole purpose
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Speaker 1: of the first part of verse eleven is that point
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Speaker 1: knowing the time already the hour to awaken from sleep.
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Speaker 1: So we carry on the same word picture, and we
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Speaker 1: awaken from sleep. It's already an hour for you to
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Speaker 1: be awake. The purpose of an alarm is to arouse
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Speaker 1: us from slumber. It has one design, As the old
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Speaker 1: comedian says here in the South, get up, get her done.
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Speaker 1: That's the reason that alarm goes off like that, Get
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Speaker 1: her done. It's not time to lay that. You don't
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Speaker 1: lay there and sing with the alarm. You get up.
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Speaker 1: And that's why it's so irritating. Alarms are never soft
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Speaker 1: little chimes. Somebody designed them to hit that discordant thing
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Speaker 1: in our brain that makes us uncomfortable. Why to wake
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Speaker 1: us up? Look at it, it's already the hour for
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Speaker 1: you to awaken from sleep. For now, salvation is nearer
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Speaker 1: to us than when we believe. What does that mean?
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Speaker 1: I thought when I was born again, salvation was forever
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Speaker 1: it is. That's conversion. I call it coming to the cross.
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Speaker 1: We trust in Jesus' death and resurrection. We take it personally.
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Speaker 1: He did this on our behalf. We believe in him.
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Speaker 1: We have been converted. But salvation runs its course like
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Speaker 1: the crescendo mark on a musical score. As life gets
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Speaker 1: longer and louder and larger, we are involved in either
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Speaker 1: being filled with the spirit or operating in the flesh.
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Speaker 1: And it's kind of a yo, yo. This is called sanctification,
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Speaker 1: which is the unfolding of the whole salvation package. There
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Speaker 1: will ultimately be a day when the Savior will return
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Speaker 1: from the sky and call us up to meet him
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Speaker 1: in the air. And then we will stay and before him,
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Speaker 1: individually and independently, and given account of our bodies, of
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Speaker 1: our lives, You giving your account and my giving my account,
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Speaker 1: and rewards will be given for being good and faithful servants.
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Speaker 1: It's nearer than ever. The unfolding of salvation is upon us.
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Speaker 1: At any moment he could come. I read this past
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Speaker 1: week of several old men that had spent years together
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Speaker 1: one day a week, enjoying one another's presence, played table games,
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Speaker 1: went to things together, sometimes travel together. And this one
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Speaker 1: evening it got a little late, and the grandfather clock
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Speaker 1: that had been, you know, running all of these years,
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Speaker 1: didn't just chime eleven or twelve, chime thirteen and fourteen
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Speaker 1: and fifty. One of the old men grabbed his coat, says,
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Speaker 1: I'm out of here. Is later now that it's ever
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Speaker 1: been in my life. That's Paul's point at the end
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Speaker 1: of verse eleven. It's later than it's ever been in
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Speaker 1: our lives.
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Speaker 2: Wake up, look around, Read through the news, see beyond
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Speaker 2: the evening broadcasts.
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Speaker 1: See what isn't tangible. Check the time. That's what the
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Speaker 1: alarm does. Helps you check the time. It's the first
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Speaker 1: place you look when the alarm goes off. You check
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Speaker 1: the time. Now. That's in verse twelve. The night it's
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Speaker 1: almost gone and the day is near. Isn't that the truth?
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Speaker 1: We're living in the time of night. Day is near,
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Speaker 1: night is almost gone. Another word. Picture the world as
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Speaker 1: we know it, the opportunities, the events of today. All
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Speaker 1: of this is seen as night. May I remind you
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Speaker 1: of how it passes. Every new wrinkle on your face,
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Speaker 1: every new pain in your body, is a reminder that
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Speaker 1: the night is passing. Each gray hair. I thought this morning,
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Speaker 1: over the days of gray hair, some of you are
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Speaker 1: busy covering them up. You're a different color than you
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Speaker 1: were this time last year. Truth be told, your color
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Speaker 1: is gray. May I be serious in say every funeral service,
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Speaker 1: every disease is a reminder that the night is almost gone.
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Speaker 1: Cynthia and I have a wonderful friends at a former church.
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Speaker 1: He was on the pulpit committee that took the risk
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Speaker 1: and hired this young guy to come and past to
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Speaker 1: the church for a number of years. His name is Hamp.
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Speaker 1: Hamp and Sue rinds of ours for now almost thirty
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Speaker 1: seven years. I got a letter from Hamp this past
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Speaker 1: week and I cried. Here was this wonderful, vivacious couple,
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Speaker 1: this great strong, stout hearted, fun loving guy, Hamp and
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Speaker 1: his wife Sue, who now has Alzheimer's and she has
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Speaker 1: become combative and psychiatrists was brought in. They had fixed
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Speaker 1: her a lovely room at an assisted living place, and
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Speaker 1: she resisted medication and finally they've had to place her
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Speaker 1: in a psychiatric hospital. So he's writing me about this,
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Speaker 1: and he's having an angiogram because he has heart problems.
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Speaker 1: His family of four are all grown and gone, and
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Speaker 1: he's alone at home. Last night, sent An are together
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Speaker 1: on our side porch, and I said to her, thinking
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Speaker 1: about Ham right now, how different it is now. Life
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Speaker 1: is like that. Age is no friend. So opportunity for
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Speaker 1: living is upon us. Take advantage of it. Tragically, some
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Speaker 1: people die at age thirty and don't find out about
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Speaker 1: it until they're seventy five, and they just kind of
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Speaker 1: drift along, unburied but dead in ahead. Don't go there. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: look at the Therefore, in the middle of verse twelve,
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Speaker 1: this is another second alarm. Therefore it's time to change clothes.
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Speaker 1: Look at it. Therefore, let us lay aside deeds of darkness,
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Speaker 1: and let us put on Look at the next word.
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Speaker 1: Does that surprise you? You expect clothing of light, you expect
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Speaker 1: garments of light armor? Why? Because this world is no playground.
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Speaker 1: This world is a battleground. If you could see the
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Speaker 1: unseen forces of principalities and powers, it would take your
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Speaker 1: breath away. You stand with your mouth open. The combative
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Speaker 1: forces in the unseen world, which I personally think explains
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Speaker 1: a number of the suicides. Demonic forces against angelic powers,
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Speaker 1: God's plan against the enemy's plan, all of it at work,
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Speaker 1: and when you're half asleep, you don't even think about it.
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Speaker 1: When you're awake, you can hardly put it out of
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Speaker 1: your mind. That's why you choose an armor of light.
28:34
Speaker 1: So obviously these are word pictures, and the spiritual message
28:39
Speaker 1: is that you can't do battle aggressively with the enemy
28:42
Speaker 1: while you're wearing your pajamas. I know one thing about
28:45
Speaker 1: every one of you, without even asking. You are not
28:48
Speaker 1: wearing right now what you wore last night. I know,
28:53
Speaker 1: I know you aren't. I look at you Sunday after Sunday.
28:59
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever seen any adult in his
29:01
Speaker 1: pjs coming to church or whatever. You sleep in. You're
29:07
Speaker 1: dressed for what for what's appropriate, and the styles may
29:12
Speaker 1: vary in your choice of clothing will vary. It's fine.
29:15
Speaker 1: The point is you're not wearing your night garments, and
29:18
Speaker 1: that's his point here. Steve Amerson, tenor soloist, has a
29:24
Speaker 1: wonderful signature song he usually adds to his repertoire. It's
29:28
Speaker 1: called this could be the Day. I always ask him
29:31
Speaker 1: to sing it when he's doing a concert for us.
29:35
Speaker 1: This could be the day he could come before Christmas?
29:43
Speaker 1: How good would that be he could come before nightfall,
29:51
Speaker 1: or you could go. I'm so grateful that the Apostle
29:59
Speaker 1: is a realist, and he's not so brainy that he
30:03
Speaker 1: stays in these theological ethereal realms. But he comes right
30:07
Speaker 1: down to where we live, and he remembers he's writing
30:10
Speaker 1: to people in Rome in the first century, whose lifestyle
30:14
Speaker 1: was very near our lifestyle, as history cyclically repeats itself,
30:23
Speaker 1: which is why he describes the changing of clothing as
30:30
Speaker 1: we talk about it here. Coming to our closet and
30:34
Speaker 1: looking in, we now must make some decisions what is
30:41
Speaker 1: appropriate to wear, what is necessary to put aside. He
30:51
Speaker 1: tells us what's necessary to put aside in verse thirteen,
30:54
Speaker 1: and what's necessary to wear in verse fourteen. But before
30:57
Speaker 1: they get there, before we get there, let me tell you.
31:00
Speaker 1: The other day, Cynthia said to me, I think we
31:02
Speaker 1: need to get rid of a lot of the clothes
31:04
Speaker 1: that are just choking our closet. I said, I think
31:07
Speaker 1: that's a great idea, and we both started the process.
31:13
Speaker 1: It's amazing as clothes hang in closets, how they shrink.
31:18
Speaker 1: It's amazing, just remarkable. No water damage, just hanging there,
31:28
Speaker 1: dust and shrinkage. They go together. So we start hauling
31:32
Speaker 1: out things that unfortunately we bought when they were too
31:36
Speaker 1: small for us, and we give some to Dallas Seminary,
31:40
Speaker 1: Luke's closet, and we give some the goodwill, and we
31:44
Speaker 1: dop some that are pretty terrible and nobody ought to
31:48
Speaker 1: have them. And we get rid of those things that
31:52
Speaker 1: have no business taking up the room in our closet.
31:54
Speaker 1: Verse verse thirteen is full of that kind of stuff.
31:57
Speaker 1: There are three pairs of garments. Think of him as
32:01
Speaker 1: a blouse and skirt. Think of him as a shirt
32:03
Speaker 1: and pair of pants. Think of them in three pairs.
32:09
Speaker 1: The first word to get rid of are well, look
32:12
Speaker 1: at verse thirteen those things that reveal a lack of
32:17
Speaker 1: personal discipline, carousing and drunkenness, and then those things that
32:25
Speaker 1: have to do with the lack of moral integrity, sexual
32:31
Speaker 1: promiscuity and sensuality. And then the third set of garments,
32:35
Speaker 1: the lack of relational harmony, strife, and jealousy. It's all
32:42
Speaker 1: right there. The thing I love about expositing the scriptures
32:45
Speaker 1: is you don't have to be cute and clever. All
32:48
Speaker 1: you got to do is read, and the text maeks
32:51
Speaker 1: for itself. Let me encourage you who are teachers. Stay
32:55
Speaker 1: in the text, illustrate it, keep it interesting, but stay
33:00
Speaker 1: riveted to the text. You cannot beat Holy Scripture. Here
33:05
Speaker 1: is an example to start with. Let us behave properly.
33:09
Speaker 1: Now we're standing at the closet, we're ready to take
33:12
Speaker 1: on the day, and we're told to behave properly. The
33:16
Speaker 1: word behave literally is the word for walk, walk. So
33:21
Speaker 1: we're going to walk this day in the everyday world
33:25
Speaker 1: of ours and yours is different from mine. Hers is
33:28
Speaker 1: different from hers, and his from her, and his from his.
33:31
Speaker 1: We're all different worlds, but we all are to walk
33:34
Speaker 1: properly appropriately. So we're to lay aside the things that
33:40
Speaker 1: we have no business wearing. The first set of garments
33:46
Speaker 1: have to do with the lack of personal discipline. I'm
33:48
Speaker 1: going to be a little pedantic here as we work
33:51
Speaker 1: our way through these six items, just like you would
33:54
Speaker 1: carefully choose clothes that match and go together. The first
33:59
Speaker 1: we're to set aside. Carousing. Interesting word, isn't it. I
34:05
Speaker 1: doubt you've used the word unless you're my age or
34:08
Speaker 1: older in the last few weeks. Carousing is a word
34:11
Speaker 1: that has to do with actions that are inappropriate and
34:17
Speaker 1: improper revelries would be an older word as well. Some
34:22
Speaker 1: refer to it as orgies. If you're in England and
34:26
Speaker 1: England has lost a soccer match, there's a group of
34:31
Speaker 1: people that have come to be known as hooligans. Remember
34:34
Speaker 1: reading of the hooligans. They go to the street and
34:36
Speaker 1: they set cars on fire. I never figured out how
34:40
Speaker 1: losing a soccer game results in setting cars on fire.
34:45
Speaker 1: The logic of that breaks down, of course, if you
34:47
Speaker 1: are involved in carousings. Logic has no place there. You
34:52
Speaker 1: do what's illogical, you do what's improper and often unlawful.
34:58
Speaker 1: So you have to ask yourself, you come to this garment.
35:02
Speaker 1: Am I spending my time with people that are worth
35:04
Speaker 1: my time? Do they help me? Or do they weaken me?
35:11
Speaker 1: Do they go places I have no business going in
35:14
Speaker 1: their carousings? My dad used to say, son, get home
35:18
Speaker 1: before midnight. Nothing good happens on the street after midnight.
35:23
Speaker 1: He's right, He being dead still speaks only the good
35:31
Speaker 1: work of the police department and those that assist in
35:34
Speaker 1: areas of mercy and health. The rest is not good.
35:40
Speaker 1: Stay off the street when it's not appropriate to be
35:44
Speaker 1: out there, or you'll get into trouble carousings that leads
35:50
Speaker 1: to drunkenness. Now, I know some of you are thinking
35:58
Speaker 1: he's gonna unload truck. Now this is a preacher's moment.
36:05
Speaker 1: So that I don't disappoint you, I plan to do
36:07
Speaker 1: that right now. This has nothing to do with taking
36:13
Speaker 1: a sip of wine for an evening meal. This is drunkenness.
36:20
Speaker 1: This is too much alcohol. This is the use of
36:22
Speaker 1: illicit drugs. This is becoming addicted to prescribe drugs. This
36:27
Speaker 1: is anything that was the result of the breakdown of
36:32
Speaker 1: personal discipline. This is excessive drinking, which is always viewed
36:36
Speaker 1: in scripture. That's wrong. Now, before I go any further,
36:42
Speaker 1: may I remind you that God's desire for us is
36:45
Speaker 1: a wholesome, happy, fulfilling life. He's not wandering around heaven
36:50
Speaker 1: with a big club and a nail in it hoping
36:52
Speaker 1: to take away your joy in life. So he tells
36:57
Speaker 1: you the truth. If you live a life of drunkenness,
37:02
Speaker 1: you will live a life of misery and ultimately shame.
37:09
Speaker 1: Ask any child of an alcoholic and they'll tell you
37:13
Speaker 1: their story. I've never known it in my home, so
37:18
Speaker 1: I can't speak from experience, but I found out about
37:21
Speaker 1: it during a hitch in the Marine Corps. Were By
37:24
Speaker 1: the time many of the guys in our outfit went
37:26
Speaker 1: back home from Okinawa, they were alcoholics. I witnessed it.
37:32
Speaker 1: I wasn't apprude. As a matter of fact, in our outfit,
37:34
Speaker 1: you couldn't be approved and survived. But in that Marine
37:38
Speaker 1: Corps Bearix, over ninety percent had venarial disease which they
37:42
Speaker 1: picked up in the village, and they carried their disease
37:45
Speaker 1: back home with them. So my world was a world
37:50
Speaker 1: of awakening. This is long before seminary, thank God. So
37:56
Speaker 1: I understood depravity. I understood what happened when a person
38:01
Speaker 1: loses his or her way. And let me say to
38:05
Speaker 1: you who are alcoholics, there's a place here for you.
38:12
Speaker 1: I know it's a best kept secret among your friends
38:15
Speaker 1: and maybe even in your family. That's what nobody talks about.
38:19
Speaker 1: But here you can talk about it. Meetings are held
38:23
Speaker 1: and gatherings led by those who know what it is
38:28
Speaker 1: to be where you are. There will be no shame,
38:33
Speaker 1: there will be no condemnation. But our hope is to
38:37
Speaker 1: help you survive a life of drunkenness. And for you
38:42
Speaker 1: who have gone through this and had your marriage collapse.
38:45
Speaker 1: Our hearts go out to you. I want you to
38:48
Speaker 1: know that because you know horror stories that many of
38:52
Speaker 1: us still know. Thank God you survived. So when you're
38:59
Speaker 1: choosing garments and you're looking for those things to push aside,
39:04
Speaker 1: stay away from anything that could lead you to that
39:06
Speaker 1: kind of lifestyle. You're an adult. You can make that decision.
39:11
Speaker 1: That's why I call this a lack of personal discipline.
39:13
Speaker 1: It just takes discipline. While I'm on the subject, please
39:16
Speaker 1: teach your children how to handle it. When they grow
39:19
Speaker 1: up and are on the road and everybody in the
39:21
Speaker 1: company goes out for a drinking party, how do they
39:24
Speaker 1: survive that? How do they handle that? Tell them how
39:28
Speaker 1: you learn to handle that. Just you ranting and raving
39:32
Speaker 1: about Drake is not going to help. Because the most
39:35
Speaker 1: common drug in a high school is alcohol, fast becoming
39:38
Speaker 1: in junior high or middle school. Help them know how
39:42
Speaker 1: to say no, Help them know how you did. They'll
39:48
Speaker 1: thank you the rest of their lives. Not in carousing
39:52
Speaker 1: and drunkenness. Now we get to even more specific, not
39:57
Speaker 1: in sexual promiscuity and sensuality. You'll be interested to know
40:03
Speaker 1: the Greek word that is rendered sexual promiscuity. It is
40:08
Speaker 1: the term for bed b ed. We're adults. We know
40:15
Speaker 1: what that's saying. Stay out of bed with someone else's
40:19
Speaker 1: wife or husband. Stay out of bed married or unmarried
40:25
Speaker 1: with someone who isn't your married partner. Stop it. That's
40:30
Speaker 1: a garment that will hurt you. Not only you, it
40:33
Speaker 1: will hurt those who love you. Had a broken hearted
40:38
Speaker 1: woman stop me after the second service in tears and say,
40:41
Speaker 1: do you have a book on forgiveness? I talked about
40:46
Speaker 1: various things she could read. When she finished, she said,
40:50
Speaker 1: I've been deceived for twenty one years. I've just found
40:54
Speaker 1: out the truth. I didn't ask her any more. The
41:00
Speaker 1: message that she had just heard on the subject I'm
41:04
Speaker 1: addressing had caused her to realize that if she stays
41:09
Speaker 1: in this disillusionment and the sadness and bitterness of where
41:15
Speaker 1: she is, she'll be poisoned just to go on. By
41:23
Speaker 1: guarding against sexual promiscuity, you will not leave your mate
41:29
Speaker 1: in the backwash of disillusionment. The next word, William Barkley says,
41:39
Speaker 1: is one of the ugliest words in the Greek language,
41:42
Speaker 1: asilgaya asilgaia. It even sounds ugly. It's a word that
41:48
Speaker 1: describes not only immorality, it describes the one who has
41:52
Speaker 1: lost a shame shameless immorality, shameless immorality. May I just
42:05
Speaker 1: spend a few moments and we'll go on. Isn't it
42:10
Speaker 1: just like the world system and the enemy of our
42:12
Speaker 1: souls to take the single most intimate lovely expression of
42:18
Speaker 1: affection sexual desire between a husband and wife and to
42:23
Speaker 1: twist it and to lead it into avenues of pornography
42:32
Speaker 1: and all sorts of promiscuity related to this once intimate,
42:39
Speaker 1: innocent act between married partners. If the world has its way,
42:45
Speaker 1: it will ruin everything beautiful. And it's pretty much ruined sex,
42:54
Speaker 1: so much so that even husbands and wives struggled with
42:57
Speaker 1: intimacy because of the bombardment sex cells. I hope you
43:05
Speaker 1: still are alert to the commercials and how often it
43:08
Speaker 1: weaves its way into them. Stay alert, Jeremiah writes of
43:18
Speaker 1: the people who no longer even blush. Good question, when's
43:24
Speaker 1: the last time you blushed? I was watching the ball
43:30
Speaker 1: game the other evening with Austin, our grandson, and Cowboys
43:36
Speaker 1: were playing the Green Bay Packers, except the cameraman felt
43:42
Speaker 1: that the cheerleaders were more important than the game and
43:48
Speaker 1: I'm sitting over here in my chair in Austin, sitting
43:50
Speaker 1: here on the sofa, and he says good night, Schwartz
44:00
Speaker 1: to be shorter. I mean, it's about down to a
44:06
Speaker 1: you are to surround wrap and a string of pearls. Huh,
44:09
Speaker 1: it's just I mean. Here, I'm sitting with my thirteen
44:14
Speaker 1: year old grandson, and it's a classic moment for me
44:18
Speaker 1: to make a contribution to his life that hopefully will
44:21
Speaker 1: help him understand how to view such things. Teach your children,
44:31
Speaker 1: I can't teach them. I have my own family and
44:34
Speaker 1: my own grandchildren. That that's my limit. You got yours.
44:40
Speaker 1: They got to know how to pick their clothing literally,
44:47
Speaker 1: not in sexual promiscuity, not in sensuality, not in strife
44:52
Speaker 1: and jealousy. This is a lack of personal relationships, a
44:56
Speaker 1: lack of harmony. See the word strife. It's the the
45:00
Speaker 1: spirit that is born of unbridled competition. It's the drive
45:05
Speaker 1: for place and notoriety and power and control. Essentially, it's
45:12
Speaker 1: the sin of having to be prominent. And let me
45:15
Speaker 1: tell you something, the ministry is shot through with it.
45:20
Speaker 1: I mean, where else did this? Many people listen when
45:22
Speaker 1: I talk amazing and you're kind enough not to yell back.
45:29
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a role of authority. I had a
45:35
Speaker 1: young man say to me, I said, Lord's calling me
45:37
Speaker 1: into ministry. And I heard enough today to know that
45:40
Speaker 1: I've got some homework to take care of. Before I
45:43
Speaker 1: fought it through on that call, I say, good for you.
45:48
Speaker 1: Guard against having to be in control, hold it loosely.
45:56
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you. I pay no attention to
45:59
Speaker 1: the size of I couldn't care less. I'm the guy
46:05
Speaker 1: that held down the numbers for how large the new
46:08
Speaker 1: worship center ought to be. Had one of the committee
46:12
Speaker 1: members say, you're the first preacher I've ever seen and
46:14
Speaker 1: wanted it smaller than the rest of us wanted it. Yeah,
46:19
Speaker 1: let's do our best to control that. This role isn't
46:25
Speaker 1: about authority. This role is about servanthood. This is a
46:30
Speaker 1: role of appealing to you, leading you as a shepherd,
46:35
Speaker 1: not acting like I'm the big model of all of this. Furthermore,
46:41
Speaker 1: when I'm gone, I'm gone, You'll still be there choosing
46:48
Speaker 1: your clothing. Watch out for strife. Guard against jealousy. This
46:56
Speaker 1: is a discontentment, a lack of satisfaction. This is having
47:01
Speaker 1: an envious eye. On what others have. This is keeping
47:04
Speaker 1: what you have to yourself. I gotta tell you time
47:09
Speaker 1: for full confession. I struggled for years early on with
47:13
Speaker 1: jealousy in my relationship with Cynthia. It almost broke us up.
47:18
Speaker 1: I mean I was driving her crazy and I was
47:21
Speaker 1: on my way to being one of these husbands that
47:24
Speaker 1: you know checks the odometer in her car in the
47:28
Speaker 1: morning and then at night, asked where she went, who
47:32
Speaker 1: she talked to, who talked to you? I mean, I know,
47:37
Speaker 1: guys so jealous they don't even want their wife to
47:39
Speaker 1: look nice. Man, I don't want any woman that other
47:43
Speaker 1: guys wouldn't look at. I mean, I want other guys
47:47
Speaker 1: to go, whoa, How did old guy get her? Whoa?
47:53
Speaker 1: You know, it's like dating a girl that's never been kissed. WHA? Man,
47:56
Speaker 1: I don't know I want to do that. You don't
48:00
Speaker 1: want one that's kissed everybody, but one has never been kissed.
48:03
Speaker 1: I mean, I pray, come on, that's that bad situation.
48:12
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you. May I apply this a little further,
48:18
Speaker 1: and I'm through. Stay away from anything that weakens your
48:21
Speaker 1: moral fiber. Anything if you can't handle the TV in
48:28
Speaker 1: the hotel room, Stay with somebody else in the hotel room,
48:30
Speaker 1: same sex, a buddy of yours, a lady friend of yours.
48:34
Speaker 1: Gals who travel, stay with someone else. If you can't
48:37
Speaker 1: stay away from the dirty channels. I just heard about
48:40
Speaker 1: a chain of hotels where the owner I haven't checked
48:43
Speaker 1: it out, so I won't give the name, but I
48:45
Speaker 1: was told by this person last service the owner has
48:49
Speaker 1: taken out all of the televisions that played the the
48:52
Speaker 1: pornography channels. How good is that? But he's making a
48:55
Speaker 1: decision for you. Stay away from TV programs that weaken you.
48:58
Speaker 1: Stay away from books literature that weaken you. Stay away
49:02
Speaker 1: from video games that weaken you. Stay away from people
49:04
Speaker 1: who lead you in the wrong direction. Stay away from
49:07
Speaker 1: experimentation with things that could lead to an addiction. It's
49:10
Speaker 1: very simple. Stay away from them. Just say no, Just
49:14
Speaker 1: say no, Just say no. You could do it. That's
49:21
Speaker 1: what's involved in this second part of this is stay
49:25
Speaker 1: involved with everything that strengthens your walk. Become a serious
49:31
Speaker 1: student of the scriptures. My meal is prepared, and I
49:35
Speaker 1: serve it as best I can, But I cook this meal.
49:39
Speaker 1: Learn to cook your own meal, Learn to stand on
49:43
Speaker 1: your own when the bottom drops out of your life.
49:45
Speaker 1: You can draw from that reservoir you've been building up
49:48
Speaker 1: as you have made a study of the scriptures. Become
49:50
Speaker 1: a person of prayer and meditation. Read books and magazines
49:54
Speaker 1: that are healthy and wholesome. I'm gonna go even farther.
49:57
Speaker 1: Get involved in a good exercise program. It's great before
50:04
Speaker 1: you put down all the drunks. Look in the mirror.
50:08
Speaker 1: If you're fat, don't say anything. I got this weird idea.
50:14
Speaker 1: As I think about this. Someday we get to heaven,
50:16
Speaker 1: Jesus may be fat. You know I've ever thought about that.
50:19
Speaker 1: I mean, that's just a thought. I mean one of
50:23
Speaker 1: the first things he may say was pie was good
50:26
Speaker 1: for you? Come I never heard that. I mean, I
50:41
Speaker 1: tell you a little more. Run with those you respect
50:43
Speaker 1: and admire, the people you want to be like. Those
50:46
Speaker 1: are the people to hang out with. Keep the long
50:50
Speaker 1: view in life. In the long run. Ask yourself, will
50:55
Speaker 1: this be good for me? Ultimately? Is this healthy and beneficial?
51:01
Speaker 1: Will I be glad looking back that I did this?
51:05
Speaker 1: Can I tell my grandkids about it? Will I be
51:11
Speaker 1: humiliated if my family finds out about this. Those are
51:15
Speaker 1: all searching questions. Ask them the help essential reminder for victory.
51:27
Speaker 1: Verse fourteen. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put him
51:30
Speaker 1: on in the morning, Wear him all day, Wear him
51:33
Speaker 1: to wherever you go, wear him to whatever you say,
51:36
Speaker 1: Wear him to whatever you're listening to, Wear him to
51:39
Speaker 1: whatever you're watching. Right there, put him on, and by
51:45
Speaker 1: the way, make no provision for the flesh. Leave the
51:49
Speaker 1: flesh hanging in the closet. Each morning, Say Lord, I
51:55
Speaker 1: know you're in me. I take you with me Lord today.
52:00
Speaker 1: I want your eyes, I want your ears, I want
52:03
Speaker 1: your discernment, I want your discipline. I want you to
52:08
Speaker 1: help me when I come to that hard moment when
52:10
Speaker 1: I would normally weaken, because I know you're never are weak,
52:13
Speaker 1: And now that you're with me and in me, I
52:16
Speaker 1: lean on you because I want to finish this day
52:21
Speaker 1: feeling great about the day because it was lived in
52:25
Speaker 1: honor of you, and I want to do that. Twenty
52:28
Speaker 1: four to seven, let's bow our heads together. I don't
52:40
Speaker 1: know where this finds you, but I have a feeling
52:42
Speaker 1: that something that was said today strikes home. And that's
52:46
Speaker 1: called the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, who now
52:54
Speaker 1: will begin to do the work that only he can do.
53:00
Speaker 1: When a sermon ends These are things worth thinking on.
53:08
Speaker 1: These will help you choose the books you're going to read,
53:11
Speaker 1: the channels you're going to watch, the discipline you're going
53:16
Speaker 1: to apply when you're on the internet, where your eyes
53:21
Speaker 1: go when you're in public, practical everyday things. Wake up
53:33
Speaker 1: and get dressed for the glory of God. The only
53:41
Speaker 1: thing I can imagine that would lead to anything but
53:45
Speaker 1: conviction would be you who've never met the Savior, and
53:49
Speaker 1: you'd be confused because you maybe have tried a lot
53:52
Speaker 1: of this and it doesn't work for you. It's because
53:55
Speaker 1: you don't have an inner restraint, an inter set of
53:58
Speaker 1: breaks that only Jesus can bring you to help you
54:03
Speaker 1: in life. And he's waiting for you to invite him
54:07
Speaker 1: to come in. Just say the word, He's yours. It's
54:14
Speaker 1: like pulling that hanger off the off the rack in
54:18
Speaker 1: the closet. Put on Christ. This is your moment. Father.
54:25
Speaker 1: Thank you for help along the way. Thank You for
54:28
Speaker 1: speaking to us in terms and tones that get through.
54:33
Speaker 1: Thank You that some are awake now that began half asleep.
54:39
Speaker 1: Some are aware that began pretty apathetic, pretty disconnected. I
54:49
Speaker 1: pray that you will speak through us and more importantly
54:52
Speaker 1: live through us, a life that becomes contagiously when some
55:02
Speaker 1: for the glory of Jesus Christ in his name we
55:06
Speaker 1: pray everyone, said a man.
55:13
Speaker 3: The preceding message wake up and Get Dressed, was copyrighted
55:17
Speaker 3: in two thousand and seven, twenty ten, and twenty twenty five,
55:21
Speaker 3: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty five
55:24
Speaker 3: by Charles R. Swindahl Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide.
55:29
Speaker 3: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.