Romans 13 Lesson

PROCRASTINATION

When is the right time to get our spiritual lives in order? 

Should we wait for everything to be calm in our lives? 

Do we wait for a crisis to occur? 

Or is the time to act now?

Our focus verse for today’s lesson comes from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans:

• “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” – Romans 13:12.

To help us understand this scripture, we will break it down into four parts:

1. Darkness,
2. Light,
3. Jesus' return,
4. And judgment.

DARKNESS

The Bible tells us that those whose deeds are evil hate the light. 

• “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” – John 3:20.

John wrote in his first epistle:

• “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” – 1 John 1:6.

We need to be careful of the company that we are keeping, and make sure that those that we associate with do not cause us to stumble. 

Paul warned us about this in his second letter to the Corinthians:

• “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” – 2 Corinthians 6:14.

Similarly, John wrote in the Book of Revelation:

• “Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good morals.” – 1 Corinthians 15:33.

LIGHT

Instead of walking in the darkness like the rest of the world, Christians are supposed to be different.

And that means following Jesus who is the light of the world, as evidenced by the following two scriptures:

• “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’” – John 8:12.

• “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” – John 12:35-36.

JESUS’ RETURN

Jesus promised us that He is preparing a place for His followers and that He is going to return for us.

There is no greater hope that we have than this! 

As disciples of Jesus, we should look ahead with great anticipation to spending eternity in Heavenwith God, Jesus, and all the saints!

Consider the following words spoken by Jesus:

• “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come againand receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” –  John 14:1-3.

Of course, none of us know when Jesus is going to return.

Only God knows that:

• “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” – Mathew 24:36.

Meanwhile, we must constantly be on the alert to protect ourselves against the relentless attacks of Satan!

• “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.  But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.  For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” - Mathew 24:42-44. 

JUDGMENT

When we die, we are all going to be judged for the way that we lived our lives while we were alive.

The Hebrew writer wrote about this in the following scripture:

• “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes the judgment.” – Hebrews 9:27.

If we practiced lawlessness and did not have a relationship with Jesus while we were alive, we will not get to go to Heaven. Jesus spoke about this during His Sermon on the Mount:

• “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” – Mathew 7:21-23.

CONCLUSION

The time to get our spiritual lives in order is today! 

Jesus is coming back, and when He does, He will judge the faithful and the sinners alike.

The choices that we make while we are alive are going to dictate whether we go to Heaven or Hell.

Therefore, we must choose wisely, and not put off getting our spiritual lives in order another day! 

We will end today’s lesson with five matters of salvation the Bible teaches us we must do to be saved:

1. Believe in Jesus. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” – Acts 16:31, 
2. Confess our belief in Him. “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” – Romans 10:10, 
3. Repent (turn away from) of our sins. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” – Luke 13:3, 
4. Be baptized. “Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ .” – 1 Peter 3:21 and “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:16, 
5. Obey God’s commandments. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” – Mathew 7:21.