20 Freedom in Christ (Romans 13:8-14)

SPEAKER_00: All right, we are in Romans chapter 13 today. We're going to do verses 8 through 14. And my husband and I both work in finances. He's an investment manager, but he's also an elder here. And that gives us the opportunity to do a fair amount of financial counseling. And we often teach the premarriage class on finances. And so we hit a passage that talks about debt, and it's like, oh, finally, something I know something about. When we were newlyweds, we lived on you know a shoestring like most newlyweds do and had to watch every penny. And now after 24 years of marriage, we've been starting our own businesses and all we have some savings. And I've can relate to what took Sophie Tucker said once. She said, I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better. So, and it's actually, I think Paul's going to tell us today, rich is better, but not because you have money to waste on yourself. He's going to tell us that rich is better because you are free from debt. You are free to serve God in a way that you aren't free when you have debt. And rich is not a question necessarily of how much money you have or how much you earn. You may not believe it, but I can guarantee you from the last 12 years of seeing this in my business that there are people out there who make twice what you make and cannot make any. I know people that make six-figure salaries and they have trouble keeping to a budget. They just can't do it. And there are people out there who make half of what you make and have twice the savings. And it doesn't matter where you are, there are there's always going to be people that make more that can't do, can't live within it, and people that make less who are saving ten times what you are. It's amazing. The principles are the same no matter how much money you make. The difference is the rich I think have learned to live proportionally or to live, well, when I I don't want to go into too much detail on it, but you learn to live on essentially 65% of your take-home pay. And if you can do that, whether your take-home pay is 10,000 or 10 million, you'll be rich. And this passage doesn't really go into a lot on debt and finances. It does touch it, but I know that's an area that is uh it's kind of a hot button area, especially in this age group and in our in our society today. So if you want more on like practical application on debt and money at the end, I'll be happy to talk about it. But I don't want to go into it too much because it's not really Paul's focus, although he is going to include it today. So let me set the stage where we are. We're in the last section of the book of Romans, which is chapters 12 through 16. This is the practical living section, the icing on the cake, where he says, okay, now that you understand the gospel that he explained in 1 through 8, and then um how in 9 through 11 he talks about how God treated Israel and asked the question, did God fail Israel or did he reject them? And the answer is no to that. Now he answers the question, so what? How should we live? If all this is true and God has done this wonderful thing for us, what difference should it make in our lives? And that's where we are. And the rest of the book answers that question. So in 12, 3, he says, For by the grace given to me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. And that theme he's still applying. Think soberly of yourself, think accurately of yourself. Don't put yourself on a pedestal, don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to. Figure out where has God gifted me, where has he called me, and then do that. So that sober judgment is still what he's going to apply. So the first way he applies it in chapter 12 is to us, how we should think about ourselves. Then in the end, he says, Toward others, we ought to be passionate and generous. So we ought to be deeply committed to care and to give ourselves away, to spend ourselves on other people. Then in chapter 13, he applies it to the government, which is what we looked at last week. So our attitude toward the government ought to be submission, fearlessness, and conscience. So submit to those in authority because God is ultimately in authority over them. So every authority on earth is put here for a reason, and they are all ultimately controlled by God. Fearlessness is the idea of being free from guilt. So not necessarily unafraid in an emotional sense, but I don't have to fear that the government's looking for me because I'm being basically obedient. So if I'm not cheating on my taxes, if I'm not cutting corners, if I'm not growing marijuana in the basement, I have no reason to think that the government's looking for me. I'm free from guilt. And so he says, practice what's right, do what's good, and you don't have to live in fear of the government. Now, doing right may get you in trouble. There are governments where doing the right thing, you can be jailed for it. That's where conscious comes in, always following God's dictates, and then accepting the consequences if necessary. So today the theme words are free from debt and free from darkness. That's what he's going to go on and imply. And that's basically the theme of the passage. It's the next area where this sober thinking about ourselves, based on what we know about the gospel, should affect us, is we ought to be free from debt and free from darkness. So let me read verses 8 through 10. This is Romans 13. O no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, and therefore love is fulfilling the law. So just to set the stage, because this this is still kind of one thought from what we talked about last week, verse eight grows out of what he said in verse seven. He was talking in five through seven about how the government can influence us, and if we live in if we're breaking the rules, then it's a source of fear for us, but if we're in basic submission to it, then it's not we don't have to worry. So in verse 3 he says, Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what's right. And now he's saying, and then in seven he says, give everyone what you owe him. If you owe taxes, pay taxes, if you owe revenue, pay revenue, give honor and respect where it's owed. And now the idea is don't owe anyone money because that will keep you free to serve God. Let me explain how how we get to that. But it's really following through this argument of don't owe anything, pay the debt, and then you have the freedom to live your life with the only obligation we ought to have, and that is the obligation to love each other. So let me talk about debt in Paul's day. It's a little different than today because the first question usually when people read this verse is they say, Should I go out and pay off my mortgage? Or, you know, what debt is okay? Does owe no one anything mean I can never borrow a dollar for lunch? I mean, what how do we where do we draw the line? So first we have to understand what he's advocating. Debt was different in his day. There was no like amortized payment plan and payment schedule, and there was no collateral. If you owed someone money, they could come to you at any time and say, pay up, and you were obligated to pay it. And we see this a couple of places in the New Testament. One is the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18, where he comes, he says, Okay, today's the day. So if you couldn't pay, you had um two choices. You could either sell yourself into slavery or you could get hauled off to prison. So you were the collateral. There wasn't like, oh, take my car. Um, it was the only collateral you had was yourself. So if you owed someone money, your life was in their hands, essentially. You were living with an obligation to them that they could call due at any time, and that puts limits on you. That puts limits on what you can do, where you can go, what choices you make. And that's what Paul's writing against. Don't put yourself in a position where your first obligation is the debt. You want your first obligation to be serving God. And debt, quite literally, in his in Paul's day, would restrict your freedom. It's still true a little bit today, although not as much. Um this idea, I think, is echoed in Proverbs 22, 7. It says the rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender. In other words, if you borrow from someone, you're now in their obligation. You, in a sense, become their slave. And if you think about it, that still affects us today. When you owe someone money, um, it restricts what you can do. So if you're in debt and say a financial need comes up that you want to give to, you may not be able to because you have this debt. So it's limited how you can respond to the um to how God can use you. You couldn't go into business, for example, if you're carrying debt. Um you may live in fear of job loss. Now the question of isn't how can I serve God should I stay in this job. The question is I have to stay in this job because I can't get out of debt if I don't stay in it. You couldn't be free to move, maybe, or um your career path becomes dictated by what pays the most rather than what is God calling me to do. Or the kind of classic example is people who get in debt through their twenties and then they get married and have children, and now they want to stay home and raise their children, and they can't because they have to work to pay the debt, or you're rate, you know, you're working two or three jobs to pay the debt. So it affects what choices you can make, how you spend your time, how God can use you. And if the unexpected happens, you know, the roof leaks, or the car breaks down, or medical bills, or something, then you're swamped. You can't respond the way you might normally. So the bottom line of all those examples is debt limits your freedom. Debt puts an obligation on you that you must meet, and you are not free to respond to the call of God in the way you might otherwise. It limits your time, it limits your choices, it limits what you can do. And I think what Paul's saying here is just like he said, submit to those in authority over you and the government so that you are free from guilt. Now he's saying, don't get into debt so that you are free to respond to whatever God is calling you to do. Stay out of debt, don't sell yourself to money. So I think that's the basic principle. So, how would that apply to us today? Should we all go pay off our mortgages? I think it's a little more complicated because given the banking system and tax laws, they are probably not what Paul has in mind here. Home mortgages, I would think, fall into that category because given our tax structure and the ability to walk away from a house, you um you're not really putting an obligation on yourself that you would say with credit card debt. Because when you have a loan on a house, the value of the house is going up. You can always sell the house and pay off the loan and move, or whatever, if you need to. So, or you could buy, say, a piece of property where you have more money in the bank, you could pay off the loan at any time. You're now not in an obligation to someone, you haven't sold yourself out. Financial people talk about this as good debt versus bad debt, and they define good debt as something that pays you back in the long run. So a house would fall into that category, and education might fall in that category, because even though you're going into debt to finance it, in the long run, you're gaining more value that you will eventually be paid back. Now, endless degrees may cross the line on education, but to a point. Um but the contrast would be bad debt is something that you're still paying for it when the value is over. So, like a vacation. If you go into debt to pay for a gay vacation for a week, a week's over, the vacation's done, you have nothing but your memories to show for it, but you're still paying for it. Most people would define that as bad debt. That's frivolous debt. That's um, and I think that would fall into the kind of thing Paul's talking about here. When you're taking someone else's money, you use it for some short-term gain or short-term pleasure, and you're paying for it and paying for it, and now your choices are limited because you're paying for this debt, but there's no value accumulating. So we can talk more about that at the end. Um, I don't want to focus on it too much because I think his main point here is to keep yourself free to serve God, and he's not really gonna go into money. But just as debt can limit your choices, the other way it can limit us is in our relationships. And I don't know if you've ever owed someone money, have you noticed how it affects the way you treat them? You know, you feel like, oh, they might ask me for the money, and so I'm not gonna avoid them today. How is that loving your neighbor? Um, or you've probably seen families that come to knife points when it's time to divide the inheritance, um, and brothers and sisters who should, you know, normally get along and now suddenly they become angry and selfish and vicious and they fight over an inheritance. And sometimes they're fighting over an inheritance because they have debt they need help with. So money can spoil relationships, and that's another reason I think he would say, owe no one anything, because you want to be free to love them. You don't want to be worried about will they pay me the money they owe me, or will I, or will I have the money to pay them, and you don't want it to spoil a relationship. Um, you know, in divorce cases, often the most bitter fighting is over who how the money gets divided. Part business partnerships go stale when you start loaning money to friends. It's money can ruin the relationship, and what Paul's saying is you want to be free from that. The only thing you want to owe people is the debt you can't repay, and that is the debt of loving them, the responsibility to love everyone. So the question is, how do we get that kind of love? And we you should know from the first eight chapters that it comes from God. In chapter 5, 5, verse 5, Paul said, God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he's given to us. And then again in chapter 8, um, nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. The idea is left to ourselves, we can't love people like we ought to. We are not that kind of people. But because God has given us so much, and because he has um called us, redeemed us, gathered us up when we were lost, shown us mercy, treated us tenderly tenderly, given us gifts, called us, now we want to turn around in gratitude to that and love other people we meet with that kind of love and being a blessing to them. And again, I think this comes back to sober thinking about yourself. I'm free to love someone else when I'm not loving myself first, putting myself on the pedestal, thinking about are my needs being met, are my rights being fulfilled here. Um if I'm taking myself too seriously or putting my needs too highly, then I will treat people differently than if I'm thinking of them. So he argues that the law is fulfilled by taking up this responsibility to love people. And he quotes the um Ten Commandments that have to do with relationships with people, what people scholars call this the second table or the last set of commandments that have to do with our relationships to each other and not our relationship to God. So he says, Don't steal, don't covet, don't commit murder, uh adultery, and so on. And he's saying you fulfill these commandments when you're loving people. And if you're committed to loving your neighbor, think about it, why would you steal from her? If you're committed to loving your neighbor, why would you seduce her husband? If you're putting her needs first or trying to be a servant, why would you lie and cheat? And I think that's the first sense in which love fulfills the law. If I'm actually trying to do good and do right and love someone, then I'm not going to lie and steal and commit murder and adultery. So he's saying this is the obligation you want to have the people, not a financial obligation. You want the obligation to love. And I think we've talked a lot about over the last few weeks about loving uh others and not thinking of yourself too seriously. I wanted to to spend a minute on the opposite side of the corn, and that is having some basic dignity and self-respect. I think that's also a danger, especially for women in our society, that we go the opposite extreme, and instead of thinking of ourselves too highly, we think too low and think um I'm not worth anything, or there's no reason why anyone should care for me. There's no reason why I should have anything. And we tend to get into this kind of um, I don't know what to call it, not so much pity, but uh negative self-image. And I think when Paul quotes from the Old Testament, love your neighbor as as yourself, the assumption is you will love yourself, that you are valuable because God died for you and chose you and created you in his image and called you and made you a part of this kingdom. So sober thinking about yourself, you don't I don't want you to take that so far as to think now I'm worthless. The whole point of the gospel is you are worth something. You're worth an infinite amount because God chose you and called you and laid down his life for you, and having received that kind of love, the response would be to love others. So I just wanted to throw in the balance, because I've been talking so much about sober thinking, that there is a basic self-worth that comes from the gospel, and that is God did choose you and gifted you, and we need you as the body of the cr of Christ. As we talked about, this was two weeks ago. Everyone has a calling, and if you don't fulfill yours, then the rest of us are diminished. We're all part of the same body and we need each other. Um let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. This came to mind when I was working on this. My first job out of college, I worked for a park district, and I was the new college graduate with absolutely no experience, the last person to be hired. So I was the bottom of the food chain. You know, that was there was no doubt about it. And the park superintended secretary was kind of in my line of of um, I was, you know, followed down the food chain, she was up at the top of it, and I went to Stanford, and she didn't go to college, and she was at the top of the chain, I was at the bottom, and she wanted to make sure I knew it every day. So there was um, you know, no task was so petty or so grueling or so boring that she could not put it on my desk. And it was and I wasn't alone. I was everyone else kind of in the bottom of the food chain, she treated the same way, and we all lived in the sphere of her because she was the boss's personal secretary, she had his ear, and she let us know that we were nothing and she was everything. Well, she got promoted and moved to another department, and her replacement, who was now still the top of the totem pole, came in and every day she would come in and say, Is there anything I can do to help you today? Is there anything I can do? Do you need anything from the superintendent that I could help? Is there something blocking your workflow or something anything you need from me that I can help you get your work done today? And the change was extraordinary. The whole atmosphere of the building changed. And it wasn't just in my little department, it became, it kind of spread so that everybody would come in and say, How can I help you today? Or, oh, let me make sure I get my piece of the project done so you can get yours done. And there was this whole sense of energy and camaraderie, and she changed the entire environment, all because her attitude was, How can I help? Yes, I'm at the top of the food chain, she still was, but how can we work together today? I think that's what Paul's talking about here. That kind of attitude that we are free to say to those around us, is there anything I can do to make your life more bearable today? Or, you know, can I sit with my arm around you for a minute? Or um you know, I don't know what else. Is there that's the attitude he's talking about. You don't want to be in someone's debt, you want to be in the debt to serve them. And that's and if one person can change an office like that, think what if everybody in this church went out and acted that way, what an impact we would make on um on Charlottesville. Um and I think that's what he's talking about. That's the attitudes we want. So free from debt and and free to love other people, that's the first restriction he's talking about. And then in the second paragraph of this section, he's gonna talk about another kind of of restriction or bondage, and that is darkness. You can be um enslaved to debt or you can be enslaved to the darkness. So let's look at 11 through 14. 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 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 quarrelling and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. So he's basically saying in the darkness there are two things you can two problems you can encounter. Sleepiness, and the other is what he calls the deeds of the darkness. And we're going to talk about those. But first, let me talk about his verse 11, where he says, Salvation is nearer than when we first believed. That often hits people as confusing because the question is, what was Paul thinking? Would he be did he think Jesus was going to come back in his lifetime? And if he could walk into our classroom today, would he be surprised that we're all still here and Jesus isn't? And I think the answer to that is no. Yes, he did write this a long time ago, but he knew the parables of Jesus. And Jesus talked about his return. You know, the parable of the stewards who were given a responsibility and the master kept delaying, and eventually they stopped serving the master and started serving themselves. The whole point of that was the master was delayed, or at least part of it. And the the parable of the bridesmaids, where they're waiting for the groom to come, and the night drags on longer than expected, so when the groom comes, they're not prepared. I mean, Jesus talked about it's going to be a while. There will be a delay, and you still have to be awake and alert or watchful. So and I think Paul would have been familiar with that and not expecting necessarily that Jesus is going to be back tomorrow. So what's he saying? It's not that. I think what he's saying is none of us knows when it's going to be, and no matter which day he comes back, we ought to be ready. And every one of us lives a heartbeat away from it being today. So none of us knows how far away it is ultimately as the second coming or our own personal end. And it is certainly true that today it's closer than it was yesterday. And tomorrow it's going to be closer still, no matter when it is. So that ought to create in us a sense of it's time for me to be about my calling. It's the time to serve myself, the time to be selfish, the time for self-indulgence is past. It's time to wake up from that and serve my God and who saved me and died for me. So I think that's what He's what He's trying to stir us to. Throw off the sleepiness, throw off the deeds of the darkness, and it's time to serve the Lord. So I think the metaphor for sleep in the first section is a metaphor for inactivity or laziness. The idea is it's time the time is past to do nothing. The time is past to serve yourself. It's time to serve God. Figure out what your calling is and cheerfully get on with it. So free yourself from debt or free yourself from any obligations that hinder your calling and start practicing the good. And I think part of that is a need to be alert. If you think about it, you know, if you're in the habit of exercise, you know you don't get out of shape overnight. It's like a series of choices you make and decisions that one leads to the other, and you kind of find yourself suddenly kind of slothful and inattentive, but it's it's a process of getting out of shape. And I think the same's true in relationships. You know, you let something go, you don't deal with it, you don't talk to someone, you don't make a phone call you should make, or you don't talk to your husband about something you should talk about, and then time goes by, and well, maybe it's not important, and and you don't work on it, and the problem's just kind of there. And pretty soon either it's so far gone you can't deal with it, or you don't care to deal with it anymore, and that's how relationships start breaking. So I think part of it is wake up, deal with what you need to deal with, be attentive, strive to love each other, um, and don't fall back into this inactivity of doing nothing. Proverbs 24 echoes the same theme. This is Proverbs 24, 30 to 34. I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment. Thorns had come up everywhere, and the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed, and I learned a lesson from what I saw. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come on you like a bandit, and scarcity like an armed man. The idea is it's that loss of energy, it's that loss of passion, that loss of joy, and it comes by making little decisions over time to compromise and to give up. And Paul's saying, stop, wake up, be alert. The end is much nearer than it's ever been. For any one of us, it could be tomorrow, it could be today, the hour has come to take seriously the things of God, to be excited about what he's excited about and what he's called you to. So the first freedom from darkness is being free from slumber and instead being energetic, passionate, alert, awake. The second one is what he calls the deeds of the darkness. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. There are three pairs here that represent, I think, things that get out of control in our lives. So, and there are things I think darkness is a great metaphor because in the daytime we don't do them because people can see what we're doing, and we don't want them to know. So, but in the darkness, when we think we can get away with it, then we let these things get out of control. So the first pair, orgies and drunkenness, I think what he has in mind is escapism. Um it's letting self-indulgence get out of control. So I think this would include drug addiction, alcohol addiction, um, anything we use to anesthesize ourselves from life. It could be watching too much television, or parties, or endless parties, or even plays or concerts or the opera, it's whatever you might use to get letting that get out of control so that you're now pursuing pleasure and self-indulgence as opposed to your calling. So that's what he's saying. Don't go there. It's it's not healthy, it's not fulfilling. So don't live for endless pleasure, don't devote your life to endless good times. Um that's the idea in the first pair. So out-of-control escapism is the first one. The second one would be out-of-control sexuality, um, sexual immorality and debauchery. And that one is probably pretty obvious in our culture because we are bombarded by the temptation to misuse sexuality over and over again in movies and TV. We are told, you know, if your marriage is boring, find someone else. You know, or if life is slow, just try a new love affair or a new romance. You know, that's the answer. And the world says, oh sure, there's no harm in it, go ahead. Um, and I think what Paul's saying is if you live for those things, if you let that become your your dominating um, the thing that dominates your life, you can't fulfill your calling. You can't you miss the excitement, the real joy of loving other people. If you're living for sex, you're not going to love someone the way you ought to love them. Um and I think he would his words, his language here would cover the entire range of immorality from fornication, adultery, pornography, um, promiscuity, homosexuality, saying you can't indulge in these things and love people the way the commandments say you ought to love them. You will get hurt, you will hurt others, you will break relationships, not build them, and that's and you're missing essentially what God has called you to to be, part of the joy. So now he's not saying sexuality is bad, I think the idea is out of control sexuality, or the same way pleasure could become out of control and become an idol. I like what C.S. Lewis had to say on the subject. He was talking about the way we misuse sexuality, and he says, we are half-hearted creatures fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. In other words, we have missed the real joy. We have we we misuse sexuality and think that's the real joy in life when the real joy is found in following God. I like that image of making mud pies at a slum rather than a holiday at the sea because we just don't understand what God has in store for us. Okay, the third category is a little surprising to find in this list dissension and jealousy, because this one, you don't have to wait for darkness for this. You know, we can pick a fight on the way home from Bible study, you know. Why, that's just normal behavior, right? Dissension, jealousy, it's you know, out of control, anger, and selfishness. Um so again, it's the letting it get out of control. It's the spending our time stewing about it and and uh looking for ways to hurt or to get even or to take revenge or um putting other people down. And that's what Paul calls us to avoid. So out of control escapism, out of control sexuality, out of control anger or selfishness, or the deeds of the darkness. And the anecdote is put on the armor of light, expose them to the light, um, call it what it is. Um we are running out of time. How am I going to get this in? Okay, we'll go here. Let me skip to verse 14, because I think that it'll make the same point. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. The the metaphor here is put on Jesus like you put on your clothes. It's that's the analogy. And the idea is our clothing is our identity. In the ancient world, you could tell who a person was by their clothing. You could tell what nation they came from often, whether they were Jew or Gentile particularly. And the idea is that's our clothing says something about ourselves, and he's using that as a metaphor to say, put on Jesus Christ. And if you go down to the mall and you go into the record store and you see people, you know, with spiked green hair and and all kinds of metal things hanging out of their faces and ears and noses and things, they're making a statement about who they are and what kind of person they are. Or if you go to downtown DC and you see people in their dress for success clothes, they're making a statement about who they are, what kind of person they are, and they grass in a way that will control the impression people get of them. And what he's saying is the identity you want to put forward, the the impression you want to give is of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what you want to say. I belong to him. I'm a sinner who's found grace. I'm a, you know, I'm a wretch who's found an answer to the problem of my sinfulness. And that's the face you want to put to the world. So rather than the deeds of darkness, dressing in a way that says, I live for pleasure, I live for sexuality, or whatever, dress to say, I live for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the idea. Um clothe yourself with hymns means making that statement is that's what my identity is. Now, the interesting thing is he says, I love this phrase, make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. He's being very practical. The idea is saying, um, don't even open the door to temptation. You know, if there is someone in your office that you engage in, you're married, he's maybe married and you engage in this wonderful little flirtatious, turn and run. Don't even open the door, because that's how it starts. You know, if you're tempted to overspend or get into debt, throw away the credit cards. If you're um if watching romance uh movies or reading romance novels makes you dissatisfied with your marriage, turn off the TV and throw away the books. Don't even open the door. I think what he's saying by make no provision is if you struggle, turn and run, flee from that temptation. Um and I think one of my favorite passages is to say moral failure is like a flat tire. You very rarely have a blowout, you have a slow leak. You know, so moral failure starts with this small hole where the air is just leaking a little bit, and you may not even notice it, just like a flat tire, and it can go on for weeks until suddenly you find, oh, you go out one morning and the tire's flat. I think that's the idea here. When sin starts with a slow week, you make one little compromise and say, Well, just today I'll do it this way. You know, we'll just engage in that flirtation at the office. It's just a little conversation, we both enjoy it, no one's getting hurt. Okay, we'll go for coffee today because we have time and work is over, and okay, maybe we'll have lunch, and then okay, we'll have dinner, and and suddenly this you make one step at a time, compromise, and suddenly you're engaged in adultery. And how did it happen? It starts with a slow leak. And what Paul's saying is don't even start, just turn and run. If it's a temptation, seek help, turn, flee from it. If confess it to a friend, say I need help, I'm struggling, help, keep me accountable here, don't let me go down that path. Um, and you know, the examples in the Bible of this are numerous. David, for example, I don't think woke up one morning and thought, I think I'll commit a murder and adultery today. You know, he he began giving his responsibilities away and letting other people do the things that were his responsibility as king, and then indulging himself, taking yet another wife until he ended up a murderer and adulterer. Judas probably didn't set out to obey Jesus. He probably began as a petty thief, you know, taking a few coins from a coin box, and well, that was okay. So you progress until he's selling the Savior for a pocket full of money. The the idea is moral decline tends to be a slow leak. We rationalize a little bit of compromise, and that works, so we'll take a little bit more compromise, and that seemed okay, so we'll we just keep sliding down that path. So don't make provision, turn and run. Um let me just close. I think one of the most tragic stories of the Bible that illustrates this is the story of the rape of Tamar. I don't know if you're familiar with that. It's in 2 Samuel 13. And let me just read how it opens. Absalom's now Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar. After a time, Amnon, David's son, loved her. And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnor to do anything to her. He made himself ill, he dwelt on it, he meditated on it, he thought about it day and night, he made provision for it. That's the kind of thing Paul's saying. But Amnon had a friend whose name was Janadab, the son of Simeah, David's brother, and Jonadab was a very crafty man. So he tells his friend and says, Oh, let me help you with that. I can solve this problem. So he he started with this dwelling on it, then he took action, he found help, and it ends with uh really tragic rape and death and shame of horrible proportions, if you read through that story. And I think what Paul's advocating here is if you have a friend that helps you sin, cut off the relationship. If you have um temptations, you know, to spend or uh in romance or whatever, turn and run from them. Find don't even open the door. I found in my life there are times, you know, when something happens and you rehearse these little speeches in your head about, oh, what I would have said if I'd really been thinking, and you kind of go over and over and think, oh, but I would never say it. But let me just think it through, and you kind of dwell on it, and then all of a sudden some opportunity comes up, and I find myself saying the speech I rehearsed that I promised I would never say, you know, and then and people get hurt, and it's like, well, what am I thinking if I practice saying it? You know, and then my husband says something, it's like, oh well, here comes now. I can unload this little thing I've been rehearsing over and over in my mind. So now I've told you, hopefully I'll stop, but I doubt it. God's gonna change it eventually. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Don't even go there. Don't make, don't make the opportunity for sin. And just to close, because I do want to leave some time for questions, I can't leave this passage without um mentioning that this is famous because of its association with Augustine. I don't know if any of you are familiar with that. St. Augustine had led a life of pretty much self-indulgence and debauchery, and he was out of control and miserable, and he was sitting in his garden, and he heard the voice of a child saying, Take up and read. And he turned to the New Testament and he turned to Romans and he read these verses 12 through 14. And for the first time in his life, he realized that there was a way to be free from all the darkness that surrounded him. And of course, he went on to write the confessions and become one of the great church fathers. So I just have to mention that these this was a turning point for him. If you this is the passage that turns his life around. So the idea is be free from debt and free to love and be free from darkness, and again, be free to serve, put on the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ as and not the identity of the darkness. Okay, let me pray to close this and then give you a chance to ask questions. Father, thank you that you are a God that loves us and cares for us. And we pray that you would be making these things true in our lives. We know left to ourselves we are not people who love, and we are not people who flee from the dark naturally, but we pray that you would be making us the to teach us to grieve over those sins, to long for the light, to long for righteousness, and to seek the things that you would have us seek, rather than the old habits or old patterns. And if we're struggling, we pray that you would give us the courage to admit the struggle to a friend or to ourselves, and to start start taking the steps to turn it into your to your hands and to trust you to take care of it in Jesus' name.