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THE KING’S BUSINESS
Wednesday, August 22 . Rom.. 13 : 13 , 14 .
Ten Commandments become unnecessary because the man will keep them all without being commanded. Tuesday, August 21 . Rom. 23 : 11 , 12 . The Day is coming, it is just at hand, right at the doors: it may be night now, but the day “is nehr. Christianity, is a religion of perennial hope. “Evil men and seducers may wax worse and worse” (2 Tim. 3:3), iniquity may abound and the love of the many wax cold, some may depart from the faith arid give heed to seducing spirits (2 Tim. 4:1), perilous times may come (2 Tim. 3:1-5), but right ahead of us is the “Daystar” and the sun rise (Mai. 4:2), and it is darkest, just be fore ¡day. As day is so close at hand it is time- to “awaken out of sleep.” Let us wake up and be ready, to greet the morn. Salvation was near when we first believed (Luke 19:9), it is nearer now. By salva tion in this place Paul means not salvation in the limited sense of pardon of sin, but the full salvation that shall be ours at the coming of our Lord (cf. Phil. 3 :20, 21, R. V., Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5, R. V., 1 John 3:2). The coming of our Lord so near at hand is one of the mightiest motives for a separated life (Luke 21:34-36). As the night is so far spent it is time to put off “the works of darkness,” i.e., all prac tices that have their origin in this present evil world, that arise from moral and spirit ual darkness and lead to eternal darkness. What these works of darkness are one cannpt specify; they are so numerous. But one can safely put among them liquor drinking, tobacco using, raising and selling, theaters, the card table, .and dancing, and a host of other things. But it is not enough to put off, we must put on. While we cast aside the filthy “works of darkness,” we must clothe ourselves with something else, we must “put on the armor of light.” (Matt. 12:44,45). Here it is , called “the armor of light,” Ephesians 6:11-18 des cribes it in full and in detail.
We must “walk in a seemly manner (this is the exact force of the word translated, “honestly”) as in the day.” The word “honestly” is a totally misleading transla tion. The word so translated means “in good 'form.” Society people are greatly concerned about what is “good form” by the standards of the “best society” ; citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:21, R. V.) should be concerned as to what is “good form” according to the. court etiquette of that country to which we are going home, i.e., heaven. What “good form” is according to heavenly standards appears from the words that follow. “Reyelling” and “drunkenness,” “chambering (i.e., sexual sin”), and “wantonness (i.e., licentious ness”), “strife and jealousy” cannot be tolerated. Drunkenness and licentiousness are commonly associated together, experi ence shows that they are rarely if ever separated. The use of alcoholic liquors, even in what is called moderation, stirs up all that is base in men and women. We do not usually put “jealousy” in the same cata logue with drunkenness and licentiousness, but God does. (v. 13, R. V.). The whole secret of .“good form,” or walking becom ingly is to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” to have our lives clothed with Him (Gal. 3:24; Eph. 4:24). The figure that Paul uses here is that of putting on a garment: the clothes that we w^ar should be Jesus- Himself. When we meet a man pretty much all we see is his clothes, and when people meet us, all that they should see should be the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Peter 513-5). The way to have Christ upon us is to have “Christ in us” (Col. 1:27; Eph. 3 :17). If we would “walk becomingly” we must not “make provision (take no fore thought) for the flesh, to fulfil the lust thereof,” i.e., we should direct none of our care and attention to the cravings of our lower nature as to how we may provide for their gratification ’(cf. Gal. 5 :24, R. V.).
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