Let Us Walk Properly

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Romans 13:11-14 ESV)

Progressive Salvation

These words were written to the church, the body of Christ. But this doesn’t fit with a lot of people’s theologies. So, how do we reconcile that? We have to read the Scriptures in their full context and not rely on human beings and their theologies to interpret the Scriptures for us. But we need to let the Spirit of God give us wisdom, discernment, and understanding into what the Scriptures teach, according to their biblical context.

The first thing we need to understand here is that our salvation is progressive and it will not be complete until Jesus returns to take his faithful bride to be with him for eternity, which is when our salvation will be complete, and provided only that we continue in him in walks of obedience to his commands and in dying daily to sin and in walking in holiness and in righteousness (in moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, and uprightness).

For if we are genuine believers in Jesus Christ, we have been saved (past), we are being saved (present active), and we will be saved (future), and this is what it is talking about here in Romans 13 when it states that our salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. For we are in the process of being saved and sanctified and made holy by God. But we must hold fast the word that the Scriptures teach and that Paul taught.

[Romans 8:24; Romans 13:11; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 1:8-9; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5]

God-Persuaded Faith

The next thing we need to understand here is that we cannot make a verbal confession of Jesus Christ as Savior and then go on living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and against other humans and expect that God will forgive us our sins and that he will let us into his heaven. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father (Matthew 7:21-23).

So, it is not enough to make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but we must walk in that faith that our Lord provided, by his grace, in the power of God’s Spirit, and no longer according to our flesh. For if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what faith in Jesus Christ we have professed with our lips. For we are not saved on the basis of human faith, but only by the faith God provides which aligns with his will and purposes.

[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 4:17-24; Luke 9:23-26]

Cautions to Christians (and to professing Christians)

And this is why we have all these cautions and warnings to the church in the New Testament – to those both of genuine faith in Jesus Christ and to those giving lip service to God only – that we need to awaken from spiritual slumber (laziness, apathy), and that we must cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, and that we must walk (in conduct, in practice) properly in moral purity, uprightness, honesty, and faithfulness, and not in sexual immorality, drunkenness, sensuality, and the like.

All throughout the New Testament, words are spoken to the church that we are, as followers of Christ, no longer to live like we did before we believed in Jesus Christ. And we are reminded of the types of things that we did before we believed in Christ, and we are cautioned against returning to those sinful ways, and of the consequences if we should decide to part from the ways of righteousness and to return to our sinful ways, and if we should not continue in walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living.

So, even though we profess faith in Jesus Christ, and we claim him as our Lord and Savior, and even if we did believe in Jesus with God-given faith in him, and so we did die to sin and we were living to righteousness, in the power of God, but if we continued in deliberate and habitual sin, or if we returned to living in sin and not in righteousness and in obedience, then we are cautioned that we must repent of our sinful ways and now walk in the ways of righteousness, or we will not have eternal life with God.

[Romans 6:19; Galatians 4:8-9; Colossians 1:21-23; Colossians 3:1-17; Titus 3:1-11; 1 Peter 2:9-12; 1 Peter 4:1-3; 2 Peter 1:5-11; Galatians 5:16-26; Ephesians 4:17-24; Titus 2:11-14; John 8:31-32; Romans 11:17-24; 1 Corinthians 15:2; 2 Timothy 2:10-13; Hebrews 3:6,14-15; 1 John 2:24-25; John 15:1-12, etc. – not a complete list]

So, even though these words in Romans 13:11-14 were written to the church, when we believe in Jesus Christ with God-persuaded faith in him, we still live in flesh bodies, and so we still have the propensity to sin (1 John 2:1-2). And this is why we have all these continual reminders as to how we are to live and to not live and as to what we are to put out of our lives and what we are to put on in our lives, instead – all empowered by God in his strength, power, and wisdom, and not in our own flesh.

So this passage in Romans 13:11-14 is a warning to all who profess the name of Jesus that, if we have become lax in our walks of faith and obedience to our Lord that we need to armor up with the armor of God, and we need to wake up spiritually and take God’s warnings seriously. For one day Jesus is going to return and he is going to judge everyone according to their deeds (Romans 2:6-8; Galatians 6:7-8, etc.), and if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to our Lord, we will not enter into his heaven.

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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