Prairie View Christian Church Norway, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom pvccia

1. Prairie View Christian ChurchNorway, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.pvccia.org

2. Tuesday February 2, 2010Romans: Romans 13:11c-The Romans Were To Stay In Fellowship Because Their Permanent Deliverance Is Closer To Taking Place Than When They First Got SavedLesson # 451

3. Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 13:8.

4. This evening we will complete our study Romans 13:11 by noting in this verse Paul’s teaching that it is now already the moment for his readers be awake spiritually because their deliverance from the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system at the rapture is now nearer to taking place than when they first became Christians.

5. Romans 13:8, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”

6. Romans 13:9, “For this, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’”

7. Romans 13:10, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

8. Romans 13:11, “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”

9. “For now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed” presents the reason why Paul’s readers should already be awake spiritually, i.e. experiencing fellowship with God.

10. They are to be spiritually awake, i.e. experiencing fellowship with God “because” their permanent deliverance from the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system is nearer than when they first believed in Jesus Christ resulting in their justification.

11. “Now” is the adverb of time nun (nu~n) (neen), which emphasizes the moment when Paul wrote this Roman epistle to the Roman believers, which was closer to the rapture of the church than when they first trusted in Christ as Savior resulting in their justification.

12. “Our salvation” is composed of the genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun hemeis (h(mei~$) (hee-mece), “our” which is followed by the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun soteria (swtheriva) (so-tear-ree-ah), “salvation.”

13. The noun soteria means “deliverance” and is used with reference to Paul and his fellow Christian readers’ deliverance from the sin nature, Satan, his cosmic system at the rapture of the church.

14. The Christian’s deliverance from the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system is accomplished by God in three stages:

15. (1) Positional: At the moment the believer exercised faith alone in Christ alone, he was delivered “positionally” from real spiritual death and eternal condemnation, the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature through the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session of the Lord Jesus Christ

16. By “positionally,” I mean that God views the believer as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ, which was accomplished at the moment of faith in Christ through the Baptism of the Spirit when the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit placed the believer in an eternal union with Christ.

17. In other words, the “positional” aspect of the believer’s salvation refers to the past action of God saving us from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation when we trusted in Jesus Christ as our Savior (Ephesians 2:8).

18. The believer’s deliverance positionally sets up the “potential” for him to experience this deliverance in time since this deliverance can only be experienced after salvation through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.

19. It also guarantees the believer’s ultimate deliverance at the rapture, which is based upon the sovereign decision of God rather than the volition of the believer.

20. (2) Experiential: After salvation, the believer can “experience” deliverance from the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.

21. This constitutes the believer’s spiritual life after being delivered from real spiritual death.

22. In other words, the “experiential” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s deliverance from sin, Satan and his cosmic system in the present moment (1 Corinthians 1:18).

23. (3) Ultimate: At the resurrection the believer will be delivered “ultimately” and permanently from the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature when he receives his resurrection body at the rapture of the church, which is imminent (Rom. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:8-9; Heb. 1:14; 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:5).

24. In other words, the “ultimate” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s future deliverance from sin, Satan and his cosmic system.

25. Romans 13:11, “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”

26. “Nearer” is the comparative use of the adverb engus (e)gguv$) (en-geece), which compares the time of the rapture with the moment Paul and his readers were declared justified through faith alone in Christ alone.

27. Therefore, it indicates that the rapture is “nearer” to taking place than when Paul and his readers first got saved through faith alone in Christ alone.

28. “Than” is the comparative particle e (h&) (ee), which compares the moment when the rapture of the church will take place with the moment Paul and his readers were declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.

29. “When” is temporal conjunction hote (o%te) (hot-eh), which marks the moment when Paul and his readers were first declared justified through faith alone in Christ alone.

30. “We believed” is the first person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb pisteuo (pisteuvw) (pea-stev-owe), which refers to the moment when Paul and his readers made the non-meritorious decision to place their “trust” or “confidence in” Jesus Christ as their Savior resulting in justification.

31. So to summarize, our findings from this passage, we see that Paul commands his Christian readers in Rome to continue making it their habit of loving their neighbor as themselves as a result of what he taught in Romans 13:8-10, which is, that loving one’s neighbor fulfills the requirements of the Mosaic Law.

32. Also, in this passage, he teaches that they are to continue obeying this command because they are well aware of the significance of the period of history in which they were living in, namely, they were living in the church age preceding the imminent return of Christ at the rapture.

33. This period is characterized by urgency and opportunity for them in that they can gain rewards at the Bema Seat, which follows the rapture, for obeying the command to love your neighbor as yourself.

34. It also demands immediate action on their part since Paul teaches that it is now already the moment for his readers to be awake spiritually because their permanent deliverance is now nearer to taking place than when they first became believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

35. To awake from spiritual sleep refers to the confession of sins to be restored to fellowship with God and maintaining that fellowship by obedience to the Word of God.

36. This deliverance is a permanent deliverance from the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system at the rapture of the church, which is imminent.