Epistles of Paul 85

After Paul explaining God's plan of salvation on how God's faithfulness, mercy, and love to all remains and will remain, he then highlighted a number of important principles of how to live.

In Romans 12, he went through those principles very briefly. Very briefly, he addressed a number of Christian duties for us to be acceptable and perfect before God, in other words, executing or doing the will of God. So in verses 1 and 2, he told us to be an example, a living sacrifice to walk in your life, to do God's will. Verse 3 told us basically to do that with humility and serve the Church, serve the body. And then he explained from verses 5 through 8 that we all have different functions and responsibilities in the body, different talents that God has given us to serve in the Church. In verses 9 through 10, he said that we need to execute or exhibit kind affection, love, and not in an hypocritical way. In verse 11, he went about that we need to be fervent, not zealous, not a paper, not lazy, but fervent and zealous. In verse 12, he told us to, to, in whatever situations we have, in whatever trials, to always be in hope. In verse 13, he mentioned about the need of us having good works for those in need. And in verses 14 through 16, he told us to be of the same mind. So whether we rejoice with those that rejoice, we weep with those that weep, and for us to associate or to go with those that are humble and poor in spirit. And in verses 17 through 21, as he concludes the chapter, the 12th chapter, he told us to be at peace with others, if it be possible be at peace with everyone, to overcome evil with good, and he gives a number of very good principles about that. So in that chapter 12, which we covered in the last two studies, we can see that he went through a number of important points in our process of transformation, of changing, for us to be more perfect, like God is perfect. Basically, he's looking at a number of principles of Christian behavior, Christian living, and today we're going to move to and start covering chapter 13, which basically shows also moral conduct, but with the world, with the government, with the state.

In a way, it could be a chapter that shows how God is involved in this world, and how we need to be in subjection to authority. Now, we are not to be in the world, nor are we to be conformed to the world, but we are to be submissive and be in subjection to the authorities that God is putting place. And so, we also see that God is involved in a number of critical decisions or events in the world to make sure that the events go on according to his plan. For instance, we see right at the beginning of Daniel chapter 2, if you look at Daniel with me in chapter 2, you will see Daniel's image, and there we see the head of that image being Nebuchadnezzar, and in verse 28, Daniel 2, not too late yet, Daniel 2 verse 28, we see how Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 2 verse 28, he said, But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. And so, God is involved to some degree in what's happening in this world because he's prophesied that certain things are going to happen, and he has the power to make sure that those things that he has prophesied will happen. That just shows his power and capability to make happen what he said will happen. And we see in Daniel 2 that Hazy was working with King Nebuchadnezzar, which ultimately, through that statue, it leads down to the ultimate fulfillment of the beast and of the beast power. And so, we can see to a certain degree that there is involvement between God between God and the leaders of the different nations. And so, let's therefore then turn to Romans 13 verse 1, and we read, Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. Now, obviously, this could well apply to the church, but we can see in the context that is actually not primarily referring to the church. And then it says, Be subject to governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. And so, there's no power but from God. So, God ordains different powers that exists that exist. God has control over that. A number of governments are permitted by God because ultimately, he wants his prophecy, he will have his prophecy fulfilled, but he does give certain responsibilities to leaders. So, to one degree or other, they are established by God. Now, putting it another way, God is the fountain of all power. God sets up kings and pulls them down, all the way from governments, world governments, national governments, all the way down to the government in the family. It's God that establishes that government in the family. So, all power, all authority is given by God. Now, there are some that do assume it of themselves and abuse that power. And indeed, sometimes God allows the worse, really corrupt minds and people to rule. And that's what we see in the book of Daniel, because these leaders in the book of Daniel, which are prophetic and God allowed them to rule, they are referred as beasts. So, these people are of the worst, corrupt type of mind that is actually like the mind of a beast. So, but God does allow certain things, as we see in verse one. Now, in verse two, it says, therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. And so, as I said, some of those leaders are horrendous, but resisting brings resisting some of those leaders, it brings a number of additional problems.

Either from those people or from God himself, because authority comes from God.

And then he continues, for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil.

So, power is entrusted to them, and they are also being judged. And the responsibility of leaders and rulers should be to benefit the community, not for self-aggrandizement.

And so, indeed, they are extremely evil rulers. But God has also instituted certain civil laws, certain civil organizations and civil defense powers, so that there is a basic infrastructure, so there is not just complete the law of the jungle. And we have seen, even amongst nations in the past, God's involvement. I have heard of some people saying, for instance, during the Second World War, that there were instances where, or even maybe in the Battle of Britain, and even maybe during the US Civil War, that there would have been situations which clearly turned the way things are going around, clearly because of God's intervention. I've heard stories from people of, in fact, one of our maids in South Africa was talking to my wife about what they called in South Africa the Zulu War, and how some of those people saw armies of white horses. And it was just a small group of people there, but they saw armies of white horses and they fled. So there are a number of things that we just don't know, but God does change direction in history to fulfill his purpose. And so God has been involved to make sure that prophecy is fulfilled. So let's continue reading in verse three. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you'll have praise from the same. That obviously is a generic statement, because you are a law-abiding citizen. You are not disturbing the peace, and people will recognize you as a good neighbor, and so there is a certain amount of praise for being a law-abiding citizen. Verse four, for he is God's minister. Those leaders are God's ministers to you for good, but if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. So those leaders have responsibility to execute justice. So, for instance, in whatever country we live, we have to respect the leadership. In fact, we are told to pray for our leaders. Verse five, therefore you must be subject not only because of wrath, but also for conscious sake. So we've got to be submissive to the authorities, obviously, because God has instituted it, and therefore, for your good persons and good citizens' conscience, because a godly person will see that they're going against what God has instituted, and therefore that action would powerfully weigh in his conscience because he's a God-feeling person. And so we have to be subject to the authorities. Verse six, for because of this, you also pay taxes. Very clear, we pay taxes.

For they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Jesus Christ talked about that in Matthew 22 verse 17. Matthew 22 verse 17.

He said, tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? They asked that of Christ, so they were tempting him. But Jesus perceiving or perceived their wickedness and said, why do you test me? You hypocrites. And then he said to them, show me the tax money. And so they brought him a denarius. And he said to them, whose image and inscription is this? They said to him, Caesar's. And he said to them, render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And so, yeah, in Romans 13 verse 6, we see that it's very clear that we need to pay our taxes. Verse 7, render therefore to all their Jew, taxes to them are Jew, customs to them customs are Jew, of course, fear to fear, honor to honor is Jew. So the office of different people should be respected. In fact, 1st Peter chapter 2, we are told to honor all men. So let's just look at that. 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 17. We read chapter 2 verse 17, honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. And so we're going to respect and honor all people and honor the leader of our nation. And there we find a certain point of balance, because we know the story when Saul was trying to kill King David. He respected Saul, but he ran for his life. In a sense, our Christian history, the history of God's church over the ages, in over the past millennia and thousands, hundreds of years, has been one of the church fleeing. That is why there are not many true tracts that people can follow to see the history of the church, because the church of God has been running away from this, let's call it power, that will ultimately become the beast, and this false religion, a false church, which has been in place all these years. And so, yeah, it will build up soon, but the church has been running away from that entity and that religion. And it's only in the last couple of whatever centuries, maybe two or three hundred years, that has been considerable liberty that has allowed the church to, over the centuries, over the years, rather, over the years, to establish itself and over time to preach the gospel to the world, because that's our job.

We got to preach the gospel to the world. It says, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached unto the whole world, and then the end will come. And this has only been possible in the last few decades after World War II, because previously before that we didn't have the capability or the technology to preach the gospel to the whole world.

Now we do. Now we do. It is amazing what, with technology, can be achieved to preach the gospel. We can put something out there in English, and with technology, people are now being able to read it or listen to it in other languages. And with this advanced in technology, technology becoming more and more automating itself, obviously men program it, but men quote-unquote tweak it and customize it, but this knowledge or this technology is growing at not a multiplying rate, but it's at an exponential rate.

Getting to a point that it's just growing super fast, and this is this technology we call it today, artificial intelligence, but it really is just programming and more programming and using programming to program more, and it just multiplies itself at exponential rates. And so what do we have is the capability of preaching a gospel to the whole world in a way that we could not do before.

And because it's growing at an exponential rate, I would not be surprised that maybe in a year or two, everybody in all the world will be able to pick up or listen to anything of the gospel in any language, even if maybe just a website is only in one language. You can pick it up in multiple languages, or you, I believe, you might be able to pick it up, and therefore we are preaching the gospel unto the whole world. God would have opened a door that the gospel will go to the whole world as a witness, and it's important to understand this.

This is a point that many people don't understand. People start thinking, oh well, we're preaching the gospel, and the measurement of success of the gospel is that we need more baptism, or the church to grow more. Well, that would be nice, and how I wish that would be true. But God at this stage is calling only a few and preparing a few to be leaders in the world tomorrow, and into eternity. And so Matthew 24 14 clearly does not say, preach the gospel to the whole world to save more souls, or to bring more people to the church.

But it does say, preach the gospel to the whole world as a witness. And I know that sometimes people feel a bit frustrated and say, well, maybe there's something wrong with the church because we don't have a lot of people coming to the church. Yeah, granted, there's possibly problems with a number of us in the church that we're not as zealous or motivated as we should be. But, but we've got to understand what is God's goal.

God's goal is that people have a witness so that when things really explode, then people know there is a hope. And if people have a hope, they will hold on to that hope. They'll be part of that great multitude that will then believe in God and trust God, and they will then be those that will be the pioneers into the world tomorrow.

That's that great multitude of gentiles, and we read that in Revelation 7. So we've got to preach the gospel as a witness, say that those people have the witness, and then at that time, with the help of the two witnesses that God will raise at that time, there will be a lot of people that recognize they've got to commit to God. And so they will make a commitment, and then they will be taken into as physical human beings into the world tomorrow, into the millennium, and will be governed not by a government of this world, but by a government of God.

In other words, will be governed by the kingdom of God. And so that's what we're going to do. And I'm sorry, I'm just diverse a little bit here as I was reading verse 7, that we've got to give honor to all men, we've got to give taxes, etc. But again, it's an imbalance. And we as Christians, we're going to understand that the day is going to come, that like in the past, there was a lot of persecution, there will be persecution in a lot of people. God does promise protection, though. So we need to be close to God.

And maybe that is therefore a good transition to verse 8, where it says, oh no one, anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. One debt, one debt that you and I can never pay off is owing love and care for others. We'll never pay that off. In other words, as long as we love other people and care for others, we're not going to hurt other people.

Well, we're going to be careful not to hurt other people. And therefore, we need to do that. And that's why it says he who cares, who loves, he who has a godly love has fulfilled the law.

You see, so the law, the law defines love. I mean, and we owe, we owe, like let's just read a few things. Yeah, for instance, in Deuteronomy 24, Deuteronomy 24, verses 14 through 15, Deuteronomy 24, verse 24, we are talking about people that are going through difficult times, like there are being no press, or they mean that that are, let's for instance, our higher people. Let's say you hire somebody, you're a manager, and you hire people. How is the motivation or the encouragement of those people in your, in your ambit or your area of control? Deuteronomy 24, verse 14, do not oppress an Irish servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is within your land, within your gates. And so, and that brings an important point to morale.

If you are a supervisor in, to a group of people, are you building up an encouraging positive environment for the employees? Because otherwise, you are oppressing those that are hired, and that is not good. That is not good. Each day you shall give him your wages and not let the sun go down on it, for he's poor and has set his heart on it, lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sent to you. And so, it's, it's very important that we are careful with those people that work for us and that we, we care for them. Proverbs chapter 3, verse 27 and 28, Proverbs 3, verse 27 and 28, Do not withhold good from those who misdrew, and when it is the power of your hand to do so, do not do not say to your neighbor, go and come back, and tomorrow I'll give it to you. When you have it with you now, don't delay it. And so, that's part of, in other words, owing love to fellow men. We got, we owe it to them, and we give to them. And who has done that, has fulfilled the law. Look at Galatians 5 verse 14. I never forget that some 30 years ago, some people were thrashing at us. Galatians 5, you see, you don't have to obey the law of Galatians 5. But Galatians 5 verse 14, for instance, it says, Galatians 5 verse 14, he says, therefore he says, wait, sorry, Galatians 5 verse 14, he says, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Oh, the law is fulfilled in one word, love, outgun concern. You know, that's what it is. Look at Colossians chapter 3 verse 14.

Colossians chapter 3 verse 14, it says, above all these things put on love, agape love, which is the bond of perfection, which is the superglue, let's call it that, of perfection. So it's what keeps together, and it's agape love, really outgun concern for others. Another one is 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 5.

1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 5. Very, very significant scripture. I remember Mr. Bob Fay mentioning that, and he would say, by quoting the scripture, saying, now the purpose of the commandment is love. The purpose of the law is love. See, granted, is in this context, is charging them to do certain things.

Like it says in verse 3, charge some that they teach no other doctrine, not to give heed to fables, but rather to godly edification, which is in faith, because the purpose of this instruction, of this charge, of this commandment is love. But in a bigger context, the purpose of the law is love. Look at James chapter 2 verse 8. James chapter 2 verse 8.

James chapter 2 verse 8.

For if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love yourself as your neighbor, you do well. The royal law, the law of the royal kingdom, God's law. And he says, according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you show partiality, that's no good. And so, what it says, going back here to Romans chapter 13 verse 8, it says, Oh, no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another as will fulfill the law. It's very clear that we have to obey the commandments. And I think verse 9 and 10 make it even clearer. Can it be any clearer when we read verse 9 and 10? So let me just read verse 9 and 10.

Love the paper for the commandments. You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not be a false witness, you shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, they all are summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor, except, therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.

It's very clear. Love and law work in the same direction. God is love, and it's God's law. God's law is God's way of thinking, which is God's character. When people ask Christ about which commandments people should obey, and that is in Matthew 19, verse 18 and 19. Matthew 19, verse 18 and 19.

And he says, well, a man came to him and says, what shall I do to have eternal life? Verse 16.

And then he says, towards the end of verse 17, says, if you want to enter into life, you know, what's eternal life? Because, I mean, they are living physical life. But so enter into eternal life, keep the commandments. And he, being a little bit asking, he said, yeah, which ones?

And Christ said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not be a false witness, honor your father and your mother, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. He basically cited a number of commandments are of the list of the 10 commandments. You see, and the young man said, well, I've been doing all this. And so he says, good, then go out and go over and beyond that. Go over and beyond, because that's the minimum you should be doing anyway. Look at also Matthew 22, Matthew 22, verse 36 through 40. It says, yeah, again, Matthew 22, verse 36 through 40. It says, teacher, which is the greater commandment in law? And Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And 39. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And so, you know, it's the law is love. Christ in John chapter 14. Christ in John chapter 14.

And I'm going through a number of very basic scriptures, yeah? And it's actually good for us to memorize a few of these scriptures, because they're very basic about the importance of love. And in verse 15, John 14 verse 15, says, if you love me, keep my commandments.

It's very clear. Keep God's commandments.

And then we continue reading. We read here in 2 John chapter 1, 2 John, chapter 1 verse 5 and 6.

2 John chapter 1 verse 5 and 6.

Okay, so there's only one chapter, so. But anyway, it says, And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning. It's not a new law. We had that from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.

And this is the commandment that you heard from beginning, and you shall walk in it. That's the instruction we heard right from beginning. Right from beginning, God said, Obey my law and my commandments.

Then just going back to 1 John chapter 5, 1 John chapter 5 verse 2 and 3.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. Oh, the law is a burden. He's awake. No, it's not. His commandments are not burdensome.

We were in Galatians a little while ago, but let's go back to Galatians chapter 5. But now let's look at verse 13. Galatians chapter 5 verse 13.

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. Yes, we've been called to liberty. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh.

But through love serve one another. And we've seen that love is obeying to God's law. And also we see in James chapter 2 verse 8 through 10, that we are obeying them all. James chapter 2 verse 8 through 10.

James chapter 2 verse 8 through 10.

It says, if you really fulfill the royal law, like I read a while ago, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You do well. But if you show partiality, you you commit sin and are convicted by the law of transgressions. Now look at verse 10. For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point is guilty of all. He is guilty of all.

So people say, well, Christ abolished the law, so we can ask, okay, so we can kill and murder now. No, no, no. So we can commit adultery. Oh, no, no, no. So he can steal. Oh, no, no. Even though they do it, you know, we can lie. Oh, no, no, no. We can covet. Oh, no, no, no. So which law are they called?

Are saying that it's abolished the law of the Sabbath. See, that's that's the problem.

And then we have a whole love chapter in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, which is a very encouraging chapter, and it gives a whole lot of things about godly love. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, it basically enhances this whole principle of buying God's law into very practical points, starting in verse four through the beginning of verse eight, which says, love suffers long and is kind. See, when we go through sufferings and difficulties, we are prepared to suffer long and being kind. He says, love does not envy.

Love does not parade itself, not show itself off, is not puffed up in other words, not arrogant, puffed up. Does not behave rudely, or do we behave rudely? Does not seek its own? Is not provoked.

Thinks no evil. Does not rejoice in inequity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

And so, going back here to Romans 13, where we finish reading in verse 10, love is a fulfillment of the law. You know, brother, everything fits together like a beautiful jigsaw puzzle. It all fits together. You can't say, oh well, take the scripture, yeah, and mean something else. When people start kind of parsing or super analyzing and coming to highly technical conclusions about the verse, usually they start with very good intent, but it kind of gets twisted in the process. And we're going to be careful. We're really going to be careful with that. Now continue in verse 11 of Romans 13, and do this. So we're saying, you know, we have love. We have to obey in the Keep God's commandments. And 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. Well, it's even more true today compared to the times of the apostle Paul. Now it's even more true today. The time is nearer than when we first believed.

Look at Matthew 24 verse 42. Matthew 24 verse 42. Matthew 24 verse 42. Watch, therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming, but know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, you would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore also, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. And then he goes on to the scene and says, oh well, in verse 48, my master is delaying his coming. Brethren, that is a serious risk for people today in this age. Brethren, time is so short.

Time is so short. And then he goes on to chapter 25 where he says, there's the ten divergence. Five are wise and five are foolish. Brethren, time is so short. I believe that we, maybe I'm wrong, but I strongly believe that we are on the verge of fulfilling this scripture in big, in big way the scripture of 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 1 to 3. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 1 to 3. And and now we read, now concerning the times in seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night, comes suddenly. For then they will say peace and safety. Brethren, there's a dangerous tendency that we are seeing in our country today. There are a lot of people saying, well, it's just a few more days and then everything will go right and will be peaceful and whatever it is. And and maybe it will. There will be some degree of peace. Who knows? We hope so. But there are rebels out there. They will never stop fighting it. And maybe a few years later, maybe four, maybe two, maybe there's an assassination or whatever.

And then suddenly that strong hand that may be there brings some peace because God, as we saw at the beginning of Romans 13, God is in control. He puts leaders in charge. He intervenes in all the affairs miraculously.

Maybe then suddenly there'll be a whiplash and then it'll be sudden destruction comes upon them. Reverend, we might be fulfilling at a time that we might be fulfilling these times soon. And what I'm really saying, Reverend, is if I'm right, maybe we really have very little time. What if it's only two years? I'm not pleased, brethren. No man knows a day or the hour. Okay, but what I'm saying is, let's not think that my master, the Lord, is delaying his coming. That's really what I'm saying. Let us be awake, be really saying, hey, now I better get myself ready. Pray and watch that you and I may be counted worthy to escape. That's what we're going to be doing. And so now, because now going back to Romans 13 verse 11, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed for now. You know, look at scriptures like Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10, it says, do it with your all might. We have to now do it with all might. We really got to wake ourselves up, brethren.

Please don't misunderstand me that I am not forecasting that there's so many X number of years. No, but I'm just saying we just better be prepared. What if it is only just a few years? Are we ready? And so let's look at Luke chapter 21, Luke chapter 21, and we're going to read verse 25 through 29. Luke 21 verse 25 through 28. And it says, and there'll be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in heaven. That's still coming. It's the heavenly signs, the sixth seal. And that is still coming. So that's after the Great Tribulation, which is the fifth seal, which if you look here at Matthew 20, big part of Luke 20, 21, from verse 20 to about verse 24, it's really describing the fifth seal. And then in Matthew 25 through 26, it's basically describing the sixth seal, which is the heavenly signs. And Matthew 27 is basically describing the seventh, and then it brings in here to the day of the Lord and Christ's coming. So reading verse 25, and there'll be signs in the sun, in the moon, in the stars, and on earth, the stress of nations of perplexity, the sea and the waves are only, men's hearts failing them from the earth. Them from fear and expectation of those things which are coming on the earth. People having heart attacks with anxiety. When things are just gonna go so bad, then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. So time is near. And then verse 28, and now when these things begin to happen, that's now where we are. We're now where these things are kind of beginning to happen, because remember, he's talking about all the way from early on in this chapter.

And it talks, for instance, from verse 12, things that happened before, and verse 20, which talks about the concealed and things like that. So when these things begin to happen, remember, that's where we are today. That's where we are today. These things are beginning to happen. Look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. Your redemption draws near. We have to be serious and watchful in prayers, as we read in 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 7, because we are coming to those times when things will explode, and then we look for new heavens and new earth after that within righteousness dwells. And then we read in Revelation 22 12, when it says, when Christ comes, he says he's going to bring his reward with him. So so Christ's going to come, he's going to bring his reward with him, they will be the millennia, and after that, there will be the new heavens and new earth. We know that, but all these things are kind of blowing up towards these events. And so in Romans chapter 13 verse 12, it says, the night is far spent, the day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the work of darkness, and then let us put on the armor of light. You see, do not sleep, walk in the light.

You know, he that hates his brother is walking in darkness. You can read that in 1 John chapter 1 through 5 to 7, we are walking the light. We're going to put on the armor of light, the armor of God, Ephesians 6, 11 through 18, and we're going to become a new man. That's why it says verse 13, let us walk properly as in the day. Now in the day, it's when things can be seen. So let's walk properly as in the day. So even though we may be going through difficult and dark times, God sees everything because he sees to him like day. He can see through everything, and so then it says three things. Yeah, interesting. He says, not in revelry and drunkness, not in rioting, revelry, various types of behavior, of lack of self-control and intoxication. So that's one thing. Second, we second is not in lewdness and lust. In other words, various types of impurity and points to various acts and other behavior in a more general way.

The New Living Translation says, in sexual promiscuity, any moral living. And then the third thing says, not in strife and envy. In other words, with various forms of emotional feelings that cause strife and anger and poisonous feelings between people, which basically are against God's law of love. And then in verse 14, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, put on the new man. Let this mind be new. Where do we read that? Philippians 2 verse 5. Because of Christ, he did not believe that was necessary to hold on, but he came down, he gave up being in the form of God and became a man. Let this mind be in us, the same mind. We also talked about we got to be crucified with with Christ, making no provision for the flesh. He says, make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. In other words, we got to do away with the carnal mind and put on the spiritual mind. We need to be crucified. We need to live a new life. And so Paul, as he goes through this chapter, he says, Yahweh is government, authority. We got to respect that. But then he turns it into, says, let's love one another. We owe to people in the world and to people in the church nothing else but love towards other people. And we got to keep the commandment because the commandment is love. And we got to change. We got to put on the Lord Jesus. We got to put on the new man, a new life, being like God.