Wake Up, Suit Up, Lighten Up | Ready for Christ's Return

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. And by that I mean, there's a lethargy, there's a passivity, sometimes there's even a laziness in their life. So God is saying to us, wake up! Ever been driving down a familiar road and suddenly you realize you don't remember the last couple of miles? Your mind was in a fog.

You were going through the motions, hand on the steering wheel, foot on the gas pedal, but you weren't focused. Pastor Greg Laurie is concerned some people may be serving the Lord that way, lack of focus, and a bit of a fog. Today on A New Beginning, we'll get a wake up call to be alert and prepared for the soon return of the Lord.

Insights from Romans. This is the day, the day when life begins Let me ask you a question. Have you ever gotten a call in the middle of the night? Well, maybe we should say early in the morning, say two or three. When the phone rings, your heart jumps, right? Nobody wants a call at that hour of the morning. And I don't know why, but the caller will always ask, did I wake you? Did you wake me? And why is it that we generally say no? Why do we say yes? I'm asleep.

It's night time. You woke me, but we deny it. Sometimes I watch cartoons with my grandkids, and so we'll sit there for a while, and the other day my grandson Christopher said, Papa, why do you always fall asleep when you watch cartoons with us? And immediately I denied it.

I don't, but actually I do. And so there's something about sleeping we want to deny. I bring this up because here in Romans 13, Paul tells us as Christians that we need to wake up and stop living in denial about the fact that some of us are actually sleeping spiritually. Some years ago we were in Israel. Christopher, our oldest son, was probably around 13 years old. And Jonathan, our youngest son, was around three. So we had a Bible study that night, and Christopher still had jet lag. We said, Watch your brother. We're going to go down to the Bible study. So we went to the Bible study, and after it was done I came out, and there in the lobby of the hotel is some woman I've never seen before holding my son Jonathan who has fallen asleep in her arms. I'm a little alarmed by this.

Like, what is this? And I said, Excuse me. And she goes, Oh, is this your son?

I said, Yes. Well, we figured out what happened was meanwhile up in the room Christopher, who can sleep like no one could ever sleep, combined with jet lag had fallen asleep. Little Jonathan tried to wake him up. Christopher wouldn't wake him up, so he toddled on over to the front door and is walking around in the hallways of the hotel.

Some very nice lady takes him, waits for the irresponsible parents to show up, and returns our son to us. But that's how some of us are. We're asleep, and we don't even know we're asleep. We went to Christopher. What are you doing?

He goes, I didn't even know. And that's how some of us can be as well. So let's read now Romans 13, and I'm going to read verses 11 to 14. Do this, knowing the time. It is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Well, there's a lot there in those verses, I'll tell you. So if you're taking notes, here's point number one. Wake up.

Point number one is wake up. And I want you to notice what he says in verse 11. Knowing the time. Knowing the time. J.B. Phillips translation puts it this way.

Why all the stress on behavior? Because I think, as you've realized, the present time is of the highest importance. What is the present time that Paul is referring to when he says, knowing the time, it's time for you to wake up? I believe Paul is alluding to the fact that Christ could come in our lifetime. How many of you believe Jesus could come back today?

Raise your hand up. Well, that's good. You're very, very astute theologically.

Because that's correct. He could come back today. So be aware of the fact that this could be the day Christ comes back. But then there's another thing I would add. Be aware of the fact that you don't know how long you're going to live. You know, I'm kind of getting to the home stretch now in life. You know, I don't know how much longer I'm going to live. Ten years, 20 years, 30 years. God knows.

Maybe more, maybe less. But I'm not at the beginning of my life anymore. I am coming toward the end of it. And I remember when I was young, I thought I had all the time in the world. And in a way I did. But then you get older. And I remember when I was young, I would think, where do these old people come from? They're strange. And they move slowly. And who are these people?

And where do they live? Well, now you look at Jerusalem and you go, wow, it happened to me too. But here's the thing. You know, you who are younger are saying, yeah, you know, preach to the old people. Great. Well, I am.

I'll do that. But I know many young people that have passed on. I mentioned my son Christopher. He left this world for the next one.

He went to heaven at the age of 33. Who would have ever thought that would have happened? So what does this mean? It means live every day as though it could be your last day because one day it will be.

I don't mean that in a morbid way. But back in ancient days they had a phrase they would write over financial documents in particular. And the phrase was memento mori. What does that mean? It means think of death.

And the reason they put it on a financial document is because it would just be a grounding thing to be reminded of. Oh, look how much money I have in savings. Look at how much money I have invested.

Hey, buddy. Memento mori. Think of death. You're going to leave it all behind you one day. So keep perspective and make each day count. That is why the Scripture says, Lord, teach me to number my days that I may apply my heart to wisdom. So make each day significant. Make each day important.

Make each day count. So we need to wake up, verse 11, knowing the time. By the way, Paul is addressing these words to Christians.

He is addressing his remarks to genuine believers whose spiritual lethargy and laziness made them appear and act as though they had no spiritual life. Effectively, people who are asleep at the wheel. I read an article the other day in the paper. Well, actually it wasn't the paper.

I don't even read the paper anymore. But I was reading a news story online the other day about a car that had autopilot. And the person who was driving the car, or should I say the robot who was driving the car, the driver fell asleep. So the cops see this car driving by.

The guy won't respond to them. They finally had to force the car over. And this guy was completely asleep as his car drove him. I don't know if he programmed wherever he was going.

Take me home or wherever. The guy was asleep at the wheel. Kind of crazy, right? But there are Christians today that can be asleep at the wheel. Instead of walking in the Spirit, they're in effect sleepwalking. And by that I mean there's a lethargy. There's a passivity.

Sometimes there's even a laziness in their life. The Encyclopedia Britannica. Oh, by the way, that is something we also used to read, encyclopedias. They were beautiful books that you could put on your shelves. They were very impressive. Now we have Wikipedia, right?

But back in the day, Encyclopedia Britannica defined sleep this way, and I quote, A state of inactivity with a loss of consciousness and a decrease in responsiveness to a breathtaking place. I am reminded of a story that my friend Pancho Juarez told me. You know Pastor Pancho. So one day Pancho got up in his home and he went into the fridge and there was a six pack of beer in there. Well he doesn't drink beer. He's thinking, what are these crazy kids doing? One of his kids went out and bought beer and had it in the fridge in plain sight.

So he brings his children into the kitchen. Who bought the beer? They all said, we didn't buy the beer, Dad.

No. One of you bought the beer. Dad, we didn't buy the beer. So he found the receipt. Went down to the market. Demanded to speak to the cashier. I want to see your video there from last night. Somebody bought beer. I have it right here in the receipt even the time. They went through the video and guess who bought the beer?

Pastor Pancho. And he didn't remember doing it. So what had happened is he had come back from a trip I think to Israel. He had severe jet lag so he took a sleeping pill and he didn't even realize it. But he got up, dressed himself, got in his car, drove to the market, bought a six pack of beer, came back, put it in the fridge, and went back to sleep. And didn't remember a thing.

Now that is a stinking crazy story. But we can be in a state of sleep and not even realize it. We are denying it.

No, no. I am not asleep. And sometimes the last person to know that they are asleep is the one who is sleeping. So God is saying to us, wake up.

Wake up from this state of sleep. And by the way these words may have more relevance to an older believer than a younger believer. Because when you are a younger believer you are full of energy. You are full of vim and vigor.

I don't even know what vim and vigor are but you are full of it. You know when you are a young Christian you want to do things for God. You want to read the Bible. You want to go to church. You want to share your faith.

You want to change the world. Sometimes when you are an older believer you want to take a nap. Remember when you were a little kid and someone would say go take a nap. I don't want to take a nap. Take a nap.

That was like a punishment. Now when you are older and someone says take a nap your response is yes. So maybe this is more relevant to an older believer than a younger believer that we need to wake up. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We love hearing stories of how the movie Jesus Revolution is inspiring people in their faith walk. Pastor Greg, evangelism has always been my husband's calling until 11 years ago when he burned out from the stress of ministry after 23 years.

The Jesus Revolution movie ignited a spark that has begun to fan into flames. When after all these years he gave a sermon and his testimony at a small home church last Sunday. He is now considering going back into ministry. Thank you Pastor Greg. If you have a story to share why not call us and give us all the details.

Here is the number 1-866-871-1144, 866-871-1144. Well Pastor Greg is urging us today to wake up and be ready for the soon return of the Lord from our studies in chapter 13 of the book of Romans. Let's continue. Number 2 we need to suit up. Suit up. Look at verse 12. Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

How many of you have fallen into a septic tank? Raise your hand up. Nobody raise your hand.

One person raised their hand. Did you really? Is that why there are empty spaces around you there? But let me just say this. For the sake of illustration let's say you had maybe new outfits you bought.

Really liked it. And you fell into a septic tank. Forget about your new outfit. Don't try to wash it.

You will just destroy your washing machine and everything else will smell like it. Take the outfit. Throw it away. Party is over.

I would say the same thing if you got a direct hit by a skunk. Just let that go. So here is the analogy that Paul is using. Cast off the works of darkness. Get rid of them. They smell. They are toxic.

They are destructive. And replace them with the armor of light. We all know that we are in a spiritual battle. Some of you have gotten beaten up a little bit this week.

Some of you have gained some ground and some others maybe lost a little ground. But that is why the Bible says put on the whole armor of God. Put on the helmet of salvation. The breastplate of righteousness. The shield of faith. The sword of the Spirit. Which is the Word of God. Because in this spiritual battle it is a choice of victory or defeat. Of winning or losing. But there are times we feel a bit overwhelmed. Boxer Mike Tyson was quoted as saying, Everyone is a fighter until they get hit.

That is true. Especially if you get hit by Mike Tyson. Because if you have seen matches and the opponent was hit or bit by Tyson. You can see their reaction. It is like boom.

And they are just like you know like a cartoon almost. That man knows how to hit. So you can talk real tough. Oh yeah man I am not afraid of the devil and I can handle it. Then you get hit.

And it is like whoa man what was that all about. That spiritual battle. Put on the armor of God. Point number one wake up.

Point number two suit up. Point number three sober up. Sober up. Verse 13 says, Don't live in revelry and drunkenness.

Let me put this into the modern vernacular. Don't party and drink. The phrase that Paul uses is a description of a bunch of inebriated people walking down the street together. That is revelry. Don't engage in revelry. You know you will see a party of people maybe in a restaurant and they order drinks and they start getting louder. Pretty soon they are laughing.

Who knows what they are even laughing at. And it just goes on as it does. And so Paul is saying that should not be true of you. You should not have this other substance controlling your mind.

Alcohol, drugs, whatever it might be. The Christian should not be under the control of the spirits. The Christian should be under the control of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says don't be drunk with wine, wearing a success, but be filled with the Spirit speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So we need to wake up. We need to suit up. We need to sober up. Number four we need to clean up.

We need to clean up. Look at verse 13. Don't live in lewdness and lust. The word lewdness comes from a Greek word that simply means bed. And it is the same connotation as we would use today if you were to say of two people they went to bed together.

We understand that does not mean they took a nap. That means they had sexual relations. So don't live this way. Then the word that he uses here for lust is very graphic. It doesn't just describe a person given over to immorality. This is a description of a person who is living immorally but is incapable of feeling shame. It is shameless excess and the complete absence of restraint. This is a person that is living immorally but they are proclaiming it. They are flaunting it. They are proud of it. And we see a lot of this coming from Hollywood.

Don't we? Hollywood wants to make bad things look good and they want to make good things look bad. So they will take something that is forbidden.

Something we know is sinful. And the way they shoot it. And the music behind it. And the way it is presented. They make it look very appealing.

Very tantalizing. Then they will take something that is good and virtuous and wholesome. And they will make light of it. Make fun of it. Or even outright attack it.

No. Don't live that way. And it frightens me when I hear of Christians engaging in sexual activity outside of God's constraints. Having affairs. Extra marital sex. Having sex before marriage.

Premarital sex. 1 Corinthians 6 18 says, Run from sexual sin. No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one. Sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. And listen to this. When you are spiritually lethargic or sleepy you become more vulnerable.

Case in point. King David. He was no longer this shepherd warrior of his early days.

We find him in 2 Samuel kicking back. Complacent. Sleepy.

Bored. With too much time on his hands. In 2 Samuel 11 2 says, Late one afternoon after his midday rest David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. And as he looked over the city he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. And ironically the woman taking a bath was named Bathsheba.

Now we read this. Walking on his roof. What does that mean? It means that back in those days their robes were flat. It was still living space on top. So we were recently in Israel and we went to the city of David. That would have been Jerusalem when David was ruling.

His home. His palace would have been perched above the other home. So standing up there he had a vantage point. He could see into other people's rooftops. He could see into other people's yards. He could see people down on the street. He could survey everything in one fell swoop. He was just kind of looking around. Was David looking for trouble?

I think he may have been. Same thing can happen to us when we are out surfing the web. You know we have time in our hands. We just start clicking. Clicking links. Go over here.

Oh my Facebook feed. Here is click bait. Here is this little picture.

Check this out. I click that. Then I click this other thing.

Then I click another thing. And one thing leads to another. That is what was happening to David. And then of course you know the rest of the story. How he had sexual relations with Bathsheba and ultimately ended up murdering her husband to cover it up. What a sordid thing it was. So what was David doing?

He was sleeping in and being lazy physically and spiritually when he should have been leading his troops into battle. Instead he was taking a spiritual vacation. I remember years ago I was over on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. And I was in a mall. And some guy came up to me and recognized me and we started talking. I said, well where do you live? He told me.

It was Oregon. I asked him where he went to church. He said, well I haven't been for a while. I said, why? He says, well I am on a spiritual vacation.

He is like, buddy come on now. And so we had a long talk. And thankfully that resulted in him making a recommitment to the Lord. You can't take a spiritual vacation. We want to keep our distance from these things because the moment you stop going forward spiritually you will start to go backwards. The moment you fall asleep you are going to be weak and vulnerable. That happened to David.

It can happen to us. Important words of warning from Pastor Greg Laurie from our study today in Romans 13. And he is not finished with his presentation here on The New Beginning. It is a message called Wake Up, Suit Up, Lighten Up. Well we are making available the new film Jesus Revolution on DVD. Yes it is available on DVD now. And Pastor Greg you have probably seen the film more times than nearly anyone having been there during the entire production of the film from start to finish.

Yes. Let me ask you, what scene in particular stands out to you? What is a memorable moment to you? One of my favorite scenes in the film Dave is when Chuck is with his daughter Jan. And Jan wasn't really walking closely with the Lord in the film version of her life and in the story of Jesus Revolution. And she was a believer but she was disillusioned. She was wondering why Christians weren't more loving. And one day her dad comes home from a church service and he was a little discouraged at that particular moment in the story. And he is getting ready to eat the food that is left on the table for him by his wife Kay. And then there is Jan standing there and they have a conversation. And I love what she says to her father. So picture this for a moment.

Chuck is sitting at the table. Across from the table is his daughter Jan. And she says this to her father. The whole Christianity thing. I was like, where is the love, you know? What are we even doing here? Where is Jesus in all of this? He seemed like a radical dude.

I'd like him but this, I don't know. But then you did what nobody else would even dare to do. You let the hippies in.

Come to find out Jesus came in with them. And you know what? I'm proud of you. You opened yourself up to something you didn't understand. And I've changed because of it.

Thousands of us. But you don't have to carry it all. Don't lose yourself in all of it.

Also don't do drugs. I love that statement Jan makes to her dad. When the hippies came in, Jesus came with them. Now that is not to imply that Jesus wasn't in their church and wasn't working in their church.

But it's sort of showing how Jan was seeing things. That she was a disillusioned church kid. But these young people coming to Christ impacted her.

And then she wanted to be closer to the Lord and made a recommitment to Christ as a result. Beautiful story. Beautiful scene. And we want you to see it instead of just listen to it. And that is now possible because the Jesus Revolution film is available on DVD.

And we want to send you a copy. Now I know it's out there streaming already. Some of you may have already watched it on some streaming platform like Apple or Amazon. But listen, the Jesus Revolution DVD is special for a couple of reasons.

Number one, it has bonus content. Including something that I think is very important. It's a special message I filmed as the sun was setting on the beach where I present the gospel.

And I even have a prayer that a person can pray to accept Christ. There's other bonus content on this film as well. And you can show it to as many people as you want. And we will send you this special Harvest Edition of the Jesus Revolution film for your gift of any size. That helps us to continue to preach the gospel and teach the Word of God. So order your copy right now.

And you can see that scene with Chuck and his daughter. And your own personal copy of Jesus Revolution on DVD. Yeah, that's right. So get in touch with us today. Our phone number is 1-800-821-3300. We'll send the DVD your way along with a free streaming code to thank you for your donation right now. And thanks for keeping in mind that this resource costs us more than is generally the case.

So your generosity is certainly appreciated right now. Again, call us anytime at 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or go online to Harvest.org. Well next time, Pastor Greg points out the Lord wants us to be fully devoted to Him all the time.

We may come up short of that, but we'll get some good help next time. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins Hey everybody, thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make Him known to others or to learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to Harvest.org.