From the MLJ Archive

Guest (Male): We apologize for the poor quality during the following recording. This is due to circumstances beyond our control and was due to a fault on the original recording. We hope it doesn't spoil your enjoyment of this message by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones too much.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: We're considering at the present time as most of you probably will recall, the words that are to be found in Paul's epistle to the Romans in chapter 13 from verse 11 to the end of the chapter, the last section in this 13th chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans.

And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.

We are still examining this last and final argument which the Apostle is producing in order to encourage these Roman Christians and us to live the Christian life as he has been outlining it from the beginning of chapter 12. We see that he blends doctrinal argument with practical application, as he always does. You can't separate these things. You can't isolate Christian living from doctrine, and you must never isolate doctrine from living. The two things are indissolubly bound together, and we divide them and separate them only at our great peril.

The Apostle, therefore, here does a very typical thing. He doesn't even keep them separate from the standpoint of writing. He mixes the two up together. And yet, there is clear here a doctrinal argument and then an application. And what we are doing is to work out first the doctrinal argument, and that will lead us then to the practical application.

Now, we've seen three things already. The first is, the Apostle says that he assumes that we know and understand the time in which we are living, and that, especially so if you like, in the light of the fact that we know the time. And the time is the time between the two advents of our Lord—the first advent, the second advent. That is the time in which we are living. They were living in it, we are living in it. It's the only thing that matters. This is the way in which the scripture always looks at time, not as the world does, but this is how it does.

Secondly, we have seen that because we have that view of time, we obviously have a very special view of life in this world—darkness, night, sleep, and so on. And then we've seen—and this is what we were considering last week—that we also have a very definite outlook upon the future and a very definite view of the future. The whole of the New Testament is looking forward to the second coming of Christ.

That is the blessed hope. That was the thing that sustained these people. They were persecuted, they were derided, they had to endure untold hardships. And the thing that kept them going and that sustained them was always this hope that was set before them. But the Apostle shows that that is equally an argument for practicing and living the Christian life in the way that he has been outlining it in these two chapters 12 and 13.

Well, now then, we come now to the fourth principle or section if you like in this doctrinal argument. And that is that the Apostle is equally concerned to remind us of what we know, namely, that a great change has taken place in us. This is, of course, implicit in the three points we've already considered. Why do we take a different view of time? Why do we take a different view of life in this world? Why do we take a different view of the future from the vast majority of people in this country tonight?

The answer is because of the change that has taken place in us. It's not that we are inherently different from other people. It isn't that we have more ability or that we are better people. It isn't that. It's entirely due to the fact that a great change has taken place in us. Now, he brings that out in two words. He says, "Now is our salvation"—you remember I've modified the translation—"the salvation as far as we are concerned" is what it means. But the word "our" really sums it up very well: our salvation nearer than when we believed.

And then the other is the little word "us". "The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, let us put on the armor of light, let us walk honestly, as in the day." Now, the "us", you see, is a differentiating word. He doesn't make an appeal like that to the world. That appeal is made only to us. The world is divided up tonight into "us" and "them". You don't make an appeal like this to them. This appeal only applies to us.

Now, this is, of course, quite basic. And this is where so much of the modern confusion arises. The Christian Church, the original early Church, the New Testament Church and the New Testament writings, are not concerned to appeal to the world for conduct. That's not their business. The New Testament epistles are addressed to Christians, to believers. They're addressed to us, not to them. There is this sharp, fundamental distinction between the Church and the world. And this appeal can only be made to those who are in the Church.

And we are in the Church, and these words "our" and "us" apply to us because of the great change that has taken place in us. Now, this is something which is, I say, quite basic. And this is indeed the really important thing about salvation. Salvation must never be thought of primarily or essentially in terms of our feelings or experiences. They're involved, but in many ways, they are the least important part of salvation.

What is the great thing in salvation? Oh, the great thing about salvation is this: that we no longer belong to them, but we belong to us. We use this word "our". There is a distinction; there is a division. This change in our state, in our condition—but still more important—this change in our position, is the most important thing of all about salvation. Now, it's very important, you see, for this reason: that our feelings come and go. But thank God, they don't make any difference to our position.

They don't make any difference to our real condition. They don't make any real difference to our relationship. Let me use a perfectly simple illustration to show what I mean. Imagine a child belonging to a great family—if you like, say, the Royal Family. A member of the Royal Family, a child in the Royal Family. And think of another child who doesn't belong to the Royal Family. Now, it often happens that the child of the Royal Family may be very miserable and very unhappy and may be crying.

The child outside who doesn't belong to the Royal Family is full of joy and full of happiness. Everything's going well with it. But you see that this variation in the feelings doesn't make any difference at all to the relationship, to the position. Though that royal child is miserable and very unhappy and feels he's having a very hard time, he's still a member of the Royal Family. The fact that the other child is happy doesn't change its position at all. It doesn't make it a member of the Royal Family. It still belongs to the family into which it has been born.

Now, this is the great thing that the New Testament emphasizes everywhere, as the Apostle is doing here. Whatever your feelings may be tonight, the great question you ask yourself is this: not what I feel like, but what am I? What am I like? I'm reminded as I'm speaking of a famous story concerning the well-known Scottish evangelist, John McNeill, who in preaching on the subject of assurance of salvation and showing how treacherous feelings can be in that respect, used this illustration.

He was an evangelist; he was often away from home. Indeed, most of his life seems to have been spent away from home. But he told a story of how on one occasion, he went home and was depressed for various reasons and told his wife that he felt that he was a stranger and that he really didn't belong to the family. And how she had turned on him and said, "Whatever you may feel," she said, "you are my husband and you are the father of these children. This is a question," she said, "that's not determined by feelings, but it's a fact: the relationship."

Whatever we may feel, thank God, I say, that's not the thing that matters ultimately. That's not the thing that determines this. It is what we are. Do we belong to this "us", this "our", or are we still with the world and belonging to "them", to those who are outside? Now, this is a tremendous thing, you see, because what the New Testament tells us about this, about us, is this: that we have been taken from darkness and been put into the light. We no longer belong to the night; we belong to the day.

This is the great thing and the fundamental thing. This is the thing the Apostle says you know, and it is because of this he can make his appeal to us. Now, this is, as I say, something that runs right through the New Testament. "I am the light of the world," says our Lord. "Whosoever believeth in me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." That's his way of putting this very thing. And you remember how this Apostle Paul, when he had his commission on the road to Damascus, the commission was given to him in these very terms.

The risen Lord said to him that he wanted to make him a minister and a witness both of the things which thou hast seen and of those things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom I now send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. But the great thing is this change: darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God.

And as he puts it again—it's not surprising that the Apostle keeps on putting it in these terms in view of the fact that that is how he received his commission—so he says to the Colossians in the first chapter: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." That's the thing to lay hold upon, and that's the thing that the Apostle is emphasizing here.

Now, here, of course, as I've been pointing out, he's really summing up what he's been saying several times before and in many different places. He said all this in chapter 6. There, you see, he starts with the question, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" Notice the "we". Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? The answer is, "God forbid. How shall we, we who are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Now, you can only say that about a Christian.

That's not true of the man who's not a Christian. He doesn't belong to this "we". But we, how shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him.

Now, that's exactly the same thing, and there he has put it. But you see, to the Apostle, this is such a fundamental point that he goes on repeating it. In chapter 7, you've got exactly the same thing. At the beginning of chapter 7, he's been reminding these people of the law. They know the law and they know how the law operates. And he takes this illustration of a woman who's bound to her husband by the law as long as her husband is alive. But goes on to say that the moment the husband dies, she's no longer bound to the law of the husband.

She's free and she can marry again, and if she does, she's not an adulteress. She's freed from the law of the husband by death. So she's free. Then he applies this, verse 4: "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Nobody can do that unless this change has taken place in him. The natural man cannot bring forth fruit unto God.

He is only capable of what the scriptures call "dead works". There's no life in them and there's no fruit. "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." You see, it is the same argument all along. And then in the eighth chapter, he does it all again.

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." He's talking about himself, but he's representative of all other Christians. And so again, it is exactly the same point. But verse 4—well, let me read verse 3 as well. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: why? That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." Who are we? He tells us: "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

Then he works out this great contrast. They who are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. To be carnally minded is death; to be spiritually minded... here it is. And we're all in one or the other of these two groups. And what he's saying to us as Christians is that we are no longer in the flesh. We are no longer under the law. We are no longer carnally minded. We are in Christ. We mind the things of the Spirit and we walk after the Spirit.

Now, this, you see, is just another way of putting the great doctrine of the new birth, the rebirth. And this is the essence of Christianity. A Christian is a man who is born again. That's why he is essentially different from the man who is not a Christian. We can never repeat this too often. The Christian is not merely a little bit better than somebody else. The point about him is that he's absolutely different. There is this difference in nature, this difference in relationship.

Take my illustration about the child of the Royal Family and the other one. Now, the child who's outside, you see, may be much abler than the child of the Royal Family. The fact that you belong to the Royal Family doesn't guarantee intelligence, doesn't guarantee anything along that line. The one outside may be very superior in many ways. But that isn't the thing that matters. It's birth that matters. It's this nature. It's the blood that matters.

Now, it's exactly the same in the Christian life. People are often confused about this. You see, this is the explanation of the fact that perplexes so many people. They don't understand how it is that sometimes you can see a man of the world who's not a Christian at all, who appears to be a very much better man and living a very much better life than a Christian whom you know. And they can't understand this. They say, "You say he's not a Christian and you say this other one is a Christian. But look at their lives!"

Now, anyone who says that is just showing a complete misunderstanding of the doctrine of the rebirth. You judge whether a man is a Christian or not, not by his behavior, but by his nature. And this is the truth: the Christian is born again. He's got a new nature. He's a partaker of the divine nature. He ought to be altogether better than the other, and it is that that's the very argument that the Apostle is using here. "Us", "we", what we ought to be because of what we are. That's the essence of his argument.

So, this is something that we must lay hold on very carefully. Now, this kind of argument, you see, is not confined at all to the Apostle Paul. They all make use of exactly the same argument. Listen to Peter doing the same thing in his way. In the first epistle and in the first chapter, he puts it like this. He says, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."

He's appealing to them to love the brethren. And the very term "brethren" makes this point, doesn't it? You're members together of the same family. But he doesn't take this for granted. He puts it plainly to us: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." Why does he appeal to them to show this unfeigned love of the brethren? Well, the answer is that "being", "you have been" born again. And not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God that liveth and abideth for ever.

Now, you see, you become one of the brethren only by rebirth, by being born again of this incorruptible seed. And a man is not a brother unless he has been born of this incorruptible seed by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever. That's the way in which this distinction between "them" and "us", or what we were and what we are, is brought out in the scripture. But John does exactly the same thing. He says, "All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."

"And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness"—or in the wicked one. You see the distinction? We are of God; the world, no, not of God, lieth in the wicked one. And he not only touches them, he has them in his embrace and he controls them completely and entirely. Well, now then, the Apostle, you see, in this argument which he's applying here, is assuming that we know this. Knowing that we are in this special position. That this is something that applies only to us and is only true of people who are in our position.

This is not Pharisaism because we all say that we are what we are by the grace of God. We say it is entirely due to the new birth, not anything that we have produced. It's the people who are not Christians who are the modern Pharisees. The modern Pharisee is the modern self-contained, self-satisfied man of the world who believes in morality and ethics and who doesn't need the new birth, he says, and dislikes its teaching. That's the Pharisee. The Pharisees never like the doctrine of the new birth because they claim they can do it all themselves.

But we say that we are what we are by the grace of God. Very well. Now, the Apostle assumes that we know all that. But at this point, he introduces, and under this same heading, he introduces a statement which looks at first as if he's contradicting himself. Now, let me read it to you again. Listen to this: "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: why? For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day."

Now, you've got here an apparent contradiction. He says, "The day is at hand." The night is far spent; the day is very near. It hasn't come, but the day is at hand. Then he goes on to say, "Let us walk as in the day." How do you reconcile these two things? How can we be walking in the day if the day is something that is yet to come, something which is awaiting us, something that lies in the future?

Well, of course, you know at once that the contradiction is only apparent. There is never a real contradiction in the scripture. That is impossible because it's divinely inspired. But in actual practice, there never is any contradiction in the scripture. And if your interpretation of one scripture makes it contradict another, you can be sure that your interpretation of one or the other, or perhaps of both, is wrong. The scripture never contradicts itself. But an apparent contradiction—how do we deal with it?

Well, this again opens out before us a most wonderful doctrine, or a most wonderful aspect if you like, of this doctrine concerning us who are Christians, concerning our position. What is it? Well, you resolve the apparent contradiction in this way: the day is yet to come. The day is in the future. He's made that quite clear. But the wonderful thing is this: that we who are Christians already belong to the day, though we are still living in this world and though the day is future.

We are already in the day because we are Christians. And yet, it is still true that the day is yet to come. In other words, we are there in spirit. Now, let me explain what I mean. The scripture will explain it better than any other way of explaining it. Do you remember how the Apostle has already put this point in the eighth chapter and in the 10th verse? He's been saying in chapter 8, "You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." Here's the point, you see. You're not of the flesh, you, Christians.

"You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Not a Christian at all. But if you are a Christian, well then, you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." What's he mean? Well, what he means is this, as I expounded when we were doing that: already we are as saved as we ever shall be as regards the spirit, not as regards the body.

So he goes on to say, you see, "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Let's call in Peter to help us to understand Paul. He was a simpler man. When he puts it like this in that chapter I read to you at the beginning, his way of putting it is this. He says, "For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

It's exactly the same distinction. We still have to die. The body has got to die. But we have passed through death unto life in the spirit, in a spiritual sense. That is why it's true to say that a Christian never really dies. The body dies; he doesn't die. He falls on sleep. There is this distinction, then, between what is true of our spirits and what is true of us in the body, and only as regards the body. Now, let me show you how the Apostle has been putting this self-same point before us.

Take what I read to you just now from the beginning of the sixth chapter of this great epistle, where he reminds us that we are joined to Christ and we died with him, we were buried with him, but also, he says, you've risen with him. "Now if we be dead with Christ"—and when he says "if" he says "as we are", "because we are"—"if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God."

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." That's the thing. That is our position. We have died with him; we are alive unto God. And then he puts it still more strongly in the 14th verse of that sixth chapter: "For sin shall not have dominion over you: why? For ye are not under the law, but under grace." That is our position. This has already happened. We already belong to the realm of the day, though we are still in this world of time.

And then, of course, as I have repeatedly reminded you, he does it in a most wonderful way in the eighth chapter, where he sort of summarizes for us this whole question, this whole process of salvation. "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."

Now, that's speaking of us. There is that sense, spiritually speaking, in which we are already glorified, though we are still in this world and our bodies are not yet glorified. In the eye of God, it's all happened. And we are there in the realm of the spirit. Now, I want to show you how the Apostle constantly plays on this particular idea, because it is the most enthralling idea that one can ever grasp. Take, for instance, how he works it out in the famous passage in 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, where he puts it like this.

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Why not? Now, people seem to spend all their time in arguing as to what that means. But they forget the reasons which are much more important. What are the reasons why a believer should not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers? And here's the argument: "For," he says, "what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" What he's saying there is that you and I are righteous. But you say, "I still sin, I'm aware of my unrighteousness."

All right, you're quite right; that's perfectly true. But actually, you are righteous. God has declared that you are righteous. God, as Paul reminded us in the fourth chapter, justifies the ungodly. He declares us to be righteous in Christ. "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." But listen, let's go on with his argument. "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?"

Well, you say, but that's a philosophic proposition, isn't it? Of course, it's quite true, there's no fellowship between light and darkness. You can't mix light and darkness. But my dear friend, this is not a bit of philosophy! He's telling us what is true of us. He is telling us why we should not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And the reason is this: that we are light, and they are darkness. You see, the light is yet to come in one sense, but we are already in it. "What communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?"

Who's Christ? Well, Christ at this point really means us who are Christians. And he describes us together as Christ, and he says that we have no concord with Belial. "Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore," in the light of these things that are true of you, come out from among them, and be ye separate, and so on.

Now, that is saying exactly the same thing. But if you want it still more plainly and clearly, listen to it in the second chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians. This is one of the most amazing things that the Apostle ever wrote. Ephesians 2, I begin at verse 4: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)" We're all clear about that; we're quite happy there, aren't we?

We've been quickened. We're born again. We're no longer dead in trespasses and sins. We're alive. We know this. But then he goes on to say, "And hath raised us up together." You're in agreement still, aren't you? It's quite true. We know that we've been raised from the death of sin. We are alive. We're spiritual people. We wouldn't be here tonight if that were not the case. Very well, there's no trouble here. "And hath raised us up together," but listen: "and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

That's equally true of you! Now, that's the thing we tend to forget. That's the very thing the Apostle means when he says that we who are of the day—the day is yet to come, but we who are still in this world are of the day. We belong to it. In exactly the same way, at this moment, because you are a Christian and because you are in Christ, you are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's the thing we stumble at sometimes and the thing we fail to realize.

Oh yes, I realize I've been quickened, I realize I've been raised out of the grave and that I'm alive. But do I realize that I'm in Christ and seated at this moment, though still in the world, we are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus? Together with him, we are seated. This is already true of us, so that at one and the same time, you are sitting on a seat in Westminster Chapel, but in spirit you are sitting in the heavenly places with, by the side of, and in Christ Jesus. Now, that's exactly what he's saying to us.

But let's go on. You see, this is such a thrilling thing to the Apostle that he goes on repeating it. Go on to chapter 5 of the epistle to the Ephesians. And this is how he puts it. He's again appealing for conduct. He says, "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them." Now then: "For ye were sometimes," at one time, "darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light."

Now you see what he's saying: "You are light in the Lord." Now. This is only true of us spiritually. There's a lot of darkness still left in us. That's the old nature and what is true of the body. But we ourselves essentially, spiritually, we are already light in the Lord, though we are still here in the world of darkness and though there are these remnants and relics of darkness still within us. And then, he says it again to the Philippians. Look at it at the end of Philippians 3.

Once more, you see, he's dealing with this same question of conduct. He says in verse 17, "Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For"—here it is—"our conversation is in heaven."

That means our citizenship is in heaven. That's where we belong. We are citizens of heaven, though we are still on earth and citizens of Great Britain. Our citizenship as Christians is in heaven. That's where we belong. And we are only strangers and pilgrims in this world. We no longer belong to it. We're in it, not of it. We are men who are away from home. This is the great thing which is emphasized so constantly in the New Testament.

We must realize this: that we already have our citizenship there. That's where we belong. That's our home, though we are away from home for the time being. As he's already put it in 2 Corinthians 5: "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." But in the meantime, you are still with him and you still belong to that realm. And then, if you like, still more explicit and more simple, he puts it to the Thessalonians in the first epistle and chapter 5. Here's the argument.

"But of the times and the seasons"—of this great day and so on—"brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." Then notice the contrast: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day."

You see, you're already in the day and you're in the light. You belong to it. You are already children of the light and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. Isn't this a wonderful thing? You're already there! You're already in the day and in the light. And yet, it's still to come. This is the astounding thing we've got to realize about ourselves: that spiritually, we already belong to it and are nothing but strangers and pilgrims in this world.

Well, in saying that, I've anticipated a quotation from Peter. They've all got this; they've all said it and they all rejoice in saying it. Listen to Peter putting it in his way in his first epistle, second chapter, verses 11 and 12: "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." But here is the same point, you see: strangers and pilgrims.

That's what we are. We do not belong to this world. This change has taken place. We are already of the day, already of the light, already in heaven in Christ Jesus in the realm of spirit. And this is the thing that we've got to realize above everything else. And as you know, it is the great argument in the 11th chapter of the mighty epistle to the Hebrews. This was the whole secret of those men, according to this argument. He says it in very special terms and quite plainly.

These men were saying as plainly as anything ever could be stated, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They knew they already in anticipation—proleptically, if you like—belonged to the place to which they were going. Well, I hadn't intended spending this amount of time on this, but my dear friends, it is in many ways the most wonderful thing a man can ever realize.

I'm but a stranger here; heaven is my home. I've heard preachers ridicule that. They were only confessing their ignorance of New Testament doctrine in doing so. It may be they're right in saying you shouldn't teach children to sing things like that without their knowing what they're singing—and we do sing these words so glibly, don't we?—but of the Christian it is nothing but the simple truth. I'm but a stranger here; heaven is my home. Or as Isaac Watts put it in the hymn we sang just now: "The men of grace have found glory begun below."

"Celestial fruits on earthly ground from faith and hope may grow." We are going to the glory. We are waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. We're looking forward to glorification. And yet, it is absolutely and equally true to say this: that glory has already begun for us. It is in us, and we in a spiritual sense are already in the glory. And what we experience here together on earth when we look into these wonderful and glorious things is this: foretastes of heaven, literal foretastes of heaven.

Not worldly entertainment at its best and worldly entertainment purified. This is a foretaste of heaven. Glory begun below. Glory's already started for us, and yet we look forward to the glory which we shall enter into fully, perfectly, when we shall have been completely rid of all the remnants and the relics of the darkness and the night and the world which still adhere to us. But this, you see, is a part of this mighty argument: that you already belong to the day.

So take home this great thought in your mind: the night is far spent, the day is at hand. But let us walk honestly, as in the day. Reckon yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we now have stated the main principles of doctrine which the Apostle puts before us here, and next Friday, God willing, we shall go on to see how all this is to be applied to our reason and understanding and our wills, and then how we are to put it into practice actually in detail, in the ordinary conduct and life and living. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God, we come to Thee with grateful, thankful hearts. Lord, we feel almost staggered at the greatness and the glory and the wonder of this great truth that Thou hast put before us through Thy word. Oh God, help us not only to see this, but to feel its power. Oh, grant that we may so feel it that the whole of our thinking and acting, and all we do and are and say shall be governed by this.

Lord, help us to realize that we are of the light, that we are of the day, that we are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus even at this very moment. Oh Lord, enable us to realize and to lay hold upon this glorious truth. And now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit, abide and continue with us now this night, throughout the remainder of this our short and certain earthly life and pilgrimage, and until we shall be altogether complete, entire, in the light and in the glory everlasting. Amen.