“Basic Christianity, Part 50” by Romans
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We are continuing in our Series, “Basic Christianity.” Tonight, we are continuing in the review and examination of our Christian walk, as a facet of Basic Christianity. We are going to continue our acrostic review of the phrase, “By Growing in Grace,” in regard to our following in the steps of Christ. We have thus far completed all the letters in the words “By,” Growing” and “In.”
Last week, we reviewed and examined “G,” the first letter in Grace, which stands for “Go to Church:” Tonight we move on to the letter “R” which stands for, “Redeem the Time.” We read in Ephesians 5:14-16: “Wherefore he saith, 'Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.' See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
Let's look first at Robert Hawker's insights on these verses: Robert Hawker adds, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. I pause over this verse. Who is the speaker but God the Spirit. And to whom doth the Lord speak but to the Church? The promise with which the verse ends, proves this. For to whom is Christ promised but to his Church, both Jew and Gentile?
And, in whatever sense we consider the call, either to awaken in the first act of regeneration, or to rouse from a sleepy, drowsy frame, in the after stages of life; the call is most blessed. For Christ, in both instances, and in every other, is the sole life, and light of his people. Let us consider it under both.
If we consider the words, as addressed to the unawakened, before the act of regeneration hath taken place; they are the sweet voice of God the Spirit, in calling the sinner, dead in trespasses and sins. For I hope the Reader need not be told, that the child of God, though given by the Father to the Son before all worlds, and by virtue of that gift preserved in Jesus Christ, before he is called;
yet, until God the Spirit, by his sovereign power, hath called from darkness to light; he is as much in the Adam-nature, dead in trespasses and sins, as all the fallen race. He is unconscious of his high interest, neither in a capability of enjoying it. Reader! pause over the subject.
And if the Lord in mercy hath wrought this saving change in your heart, will you not feel the blessedness of what Paul said to the Church of the Corinthians, when reminding them of their former state of unrenewed nature. And such (said he) were some of you! But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God!
There is not, perhaps, a subject upon earth equally affecting, as when a child of God, escaped the shipwreck of a fallen nature, got on shore, through sovereign grace; looks back, and beholds the dreadful gulph he had been taken from. He sees the multitudes stranded, and sinking, never more to rise. He beholds thousands, not more undeserving than himself; lost forever.
He stands amazed at are wonders of distinguishing mercy. He feels constrained to lift an eye to the God of his salvation, and with the astonishment of the Apostle, he exclaims: Lord! how is it that thou hast manifested thyself to me, and not to the world! John 14:22.
If we consider the words of the Holy Ghost as addressed to those of the regenerate, which in time past were called out of darkness, but are now fallen into a sleepy frame; the promise is equally the same, for it is Christ only that can give light. We have a striking example of the kind, in the instance of the Church. The Lord Jesus had just before been regaling his Church at his banquet, and feasting her with his love.
But, from the body of sin she carried about with her, she soon after fell into such a cold, and lifeless state, to the love-calls of Jesus, that though she knew his voice, yet she pleaded the most frivolous excuses to keep away. Reader! it is our mercy, that as in the first instance of awakening grace, so in all the after manifestations of it, the revival begins with the Lord. We love him, because he first loved us.
And it is our mercy also, to learn our nothingness out of Christ. One of old, well taught of God, thus expressed himself in the view: hold thou me up, and I shall be safe! (see Psalms 119:117.) If for a moment only, the Lord withdraws the arm of our support, our faith finds no holdfast. It is, I confess, distressing, yea, very distressing, thus to learn, what poor creatures we are.
Nevertheless, if nothing short of such humblings, will serve to convince our proud hearts, that it is in Christ alone our strength and righteousness are to be found; spiritual poverty, and leanness, are blessed things, which ultimately tend to endear Christ.
Next, Albert Barnes writes of this, “Awake thou that sleepest - Arouse from a state of slumber and false security. “Sleep and death” are striking representations of the state in which people are by nature. In “sleep” we are, though living, insensible to any danger that may be near; we are unconscious of what may be going on around us; we hear not the voice of our friends; we see not the beauty of the grove or the landscape; we are forgetful of our real character and condition.
So With the sinner. It is as if his faculties were locked in a deep slumber. He hears not when God calls; he has no sense of danger; he is insensible to the beauties and glories of the heavenly world; he is forgetful of his true character and condition. To see all this, he must be first awakened; and hence this solemn command is addressed to man. He must rouse from this condition, or he cannot be saved.
But can he awaken himself? Is it not the work of God to awaken a sinner? Can he rouse himself to a sense of his condition and danger? How do we do in other things? The man that is sleeping on the verge of a dangerous precipice we would approach, and say, “Awake, you are in danger.” The child that is sleeping quietly in its bed, while the flames are bursting into the room, we would rouse, and say, “Awake, or you will perish.”
Why not use the same language to the sinner slumbering on the verge of ruin, in a deep sleep, while the flames of wrath are kindling around him? We have no difficulty in calling on sleepers elsewhere to awake when in danger; how can we have any difficulty when speaking to the sinner?
And arise from the dead - The state of the sinner, is often compared to death; see the notes on Eph_2:1. People are by nature dead in sins; yet they must rouse from this condition, or they will perish. How singular, it may be said, to call upon the dead to rise! How could they raise themselves up? Yet God speaks thus to people, and commands them to rise from the death of sin. Therefore, learn:
(1) That people are not dead in sin in any such sense that they are not moral agents, or responsible.
(2) That they are not dead in any such sense that they have no power of any kind.
(3) That it is right to call on sinners to arouse from their condition, and live.
(4) That they must put forth their efforts as if they were to “begin” the work themselves, without waiting for God to do it for them. “They” are to awake; “they” are to arise. It is not God who is to awake; it is not Christ who is to arise. It is the sinner who is to awake from his slumber, and arise from the state of death nor is he to wait for God to do the work for him.
And Christ shall give thee light - Christ is the light of the world; see the John 1:4, note, 9, note; John 8:12, note notes; Hebrews 1:3, note. The idea here is, that it they will use all the powers with which God has endowed them, and arouse from their spiritual slumber, and make an appropriate effort for salvation, then they may expect that Christ will shine upon them, and bless them in their efforts. This is just the promise that we need, and it is all that we need.
All that man can ask is, that if he will make efforts to be saved, God will bless those efforts, so that they shall not be in vain. Faculties of mind have been given us to be employed in securing our salvation; and if we will employ them as they were intended to be employed, we may look for the divine aid; if not, we cannot expect it.
This command was indeed addressed at first to Christians; but it involves a principle which is applicable to all. Indeed, the “language” here is rather descriptive of the condition of impenitent sinners, than of Christians. In a far more important sense they are “asleep,” and are “dead;” and with the more earnestness, therefore, should they be entreated to awake, and to rise from the dead, that Christ may give them light.
See then that ye walk circumspectly - carefully, anxiously, solicitous lest you fall into sin. The word rendered “circumspectly” - ἀκριβῶς akribōs - means “diligently,” and the idea here is, that they were to take special pains to guard against the temptations around them, and to live as they ought to.
Not as fools, but as wise - Not as the people of this world live, indulging in foolish pleasures and
desires, but as those who have been taught to understand heavenly wisdom, and who have been made truly wise.
Redeeming the time - The word rendered here as “redeeming,” means “to purchase; to buy up” from the possession or power of anyone; and then to redeem, to set free - as from service or bondage; notes, Galatians 3:13. Here it means, to rescue or recover our time from waste; to improve it for great and important purposes.
Because the days are evil - Because the times in which you live are evil. There are many allurements and temptations that would lead you away from the proper improvement of time, and that would draw you into sin.
Such were those that would tempt them to go to places of sinful indulgence and revelry where their time would be wasted, and worse than wasted. As these temptations abounded, they ought therefore to be more especially on their guard against a sinful and unprofitable waste of time.
This exhortation may be addressed to all, and is applicable to all periods. The sentiment is, that we ought to be solicitous to improve our time to some useful purpose, because “there are, in an evil world, so many temptations to waste it.” Time is given us for most valuable purposes. There are things enough to be done to occupy it all, and no one need have it hang heavy on his hands.
He that has a soul to be saved from eternal death, need not have one idle moment. He that has a heaven to win, has enough to do to occupy all his time. Man has just enough given him to accomplish all the purposes which God designs, and God has not given him more than enough. They redeem their time who employ it:
(1) In gaining useful knowledge;
(2) In doing good to others;
(3) In employing it for the purpose of an honest livelihood for themselves and families;
(4) In prayer and self-examination to make the heart better;
(5) In seeking salvation, and in endeavoring to do the will of God.
They are to redeem time from all that would waste and destroy it - like recovering marshes and fens to make them rich meadows and vineyards. There is time enough wasted by each sinner to secure the salvation of the soul; time enough wasted to do all that is needful to be done to spread religion around the world, and to save the race.
We should still endeavor to redeem our time for the same reasons which are suggested by the apostle - because the days are evil. There are evil influences abroad; allurements and vices that would waste time, and from which we should endeavor to rescue it. There are evil influences tending to waste time:
(1) In the allurements to pleasure and amusement in every place, and especially in cities;
(2) In the temptations to novel-reading, consuming the precious hours of probation to no valuable purpose;
(3) In the temptations of ambition, most of the time spent for which is wholly thrown away, for few gain the prize, and when gained, it is all a bauble, not worth the effort;
(4) In dissipation - for who can estimate the amount of valuable time that is worse than thrown away in the places of revelry and dissipation;
(5) In wild and visionary plans - temptations to which abound in all lands, and pre-eminently in our own;
(6) And in luxurious indulgence - in dressing, and eating, and drinking.”
The Preacher's Homiletical adds, “Wherefore He saith.—What follows is “a free paraphrase from the Old Testament formed by weaving together Messianic passages—belonging to such a hymn as might be sung at baptisms in the Pauline Churches” (Findlay). The thought is that of the change from darkness to light—a change produced by the opening of the eyes to the light shining in the face of Jesus Christ.
See then that ye walk circumspectly.—R.V. “Look then carefully how ye walk.” The way of life must be one of exactitude; and that it may be so the steps must not be haphazard, but carefully taken.
Redeeming the time.—R.V. margin, “buying up the opportunity.”
Seizing the crucial moment as eagerly as men bid for a desirable article at an auction sale. Because the days are evil.—A man in Paul’s circumstances and with his consuming earnestness of spirit may be forgiven if he does not see everything rose-coloured.
“See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15). The Christian needs not only spiritual fervour and enthusiasm, but also prudence—sanctified common sense. It is possible to do a right thing in a wrong way, or in such a way as to cause more mischief than benefit.
There is a severity of virtue that repels, and rouses resentment; and there is a parade of Christian liberty that shocks the sensitive. The truth lies between two extremes, and Christian wisdom is seen in maintaining the truth and avoiding extremes. “I wisdom dwell with prudence.” Mr. Edward Everett Hale is generally credited as the author of the following motto for Christian workers: “Look up, and not down; Look out, and not in; Look forward, and not back; Lend a hand.”
Success in soul-winning is only given to skill, earnestness, sympathy, perseverance, tact. Men are saved, not in masses, but by careful study and well-directed effort. It is said that such is the eccentric flight of the snipe when they rise from the earth that it completely puzzles the sportsman, and some who are capital shots at other birds are utterly baffled here.
Eccentricity seems to be their special quality, and this can only be mastered by incessant practice with the gun. But the eccentricity of souls is beyond this, and he had need be a very spiritual Nimrod—a mighty hunter before the Lord—who would capture them for Christ. “He that winneth souls is wise.”
II. Teaches how to make the best use of present opportunity.—1. Observing the value of time amid the prevalence of evil. “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). Time is a section cut out of the great circle of eternity, and defines for us the limits in which the work of life must be done. It is a precious gift bestowed by the beneficent hand of God—a gift involving grave responsibility;
and we must render a strict account of the use we make of every swing of the pendulum. It is doled out to us in minute fragments. One single year is made up of 31,536,000 seconds. Every tick of the clock records the ever-lessening opportunities of life. Time is in perpetual motion. Like a strong, ever-flowing river, it is bearing away everything into the boundless ocean of eternity.
We never know the value of time till we know the value of the fragments into which it is broken up. To make the most of a single hour we must make the most of every minute of which it is composed. The most dangerous moments of a man’s life are those when time hangs heavily on his hands. He who has nothing to do but kill time is in danger of being killed himself.
It is a miracle of divine goodness if he is preserved from serious folly, or something worse; and such miracles rarely occur. The man who has learnt the value of time can learn any lesson this world may have to teach him. Time is the opportunity for the exercise of Christian wisdom, and should be the more sedulously used “when the days are evil”—when evil is in power.
Oh for wisdom to number our days, to grasp the meaning of present opportunity! Here come the moments that can never be had again; some few may yet be filled with imperishable good. Let us apply our hearts—all our powers—unto wisdom. 2. Having the good sense to recognise the divine will.—“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is”
Finally, Matthew Henry writes of these verses, “Wherefore he saith, etc. (Ephesians 5:14); as if he had said, “In doing this, you will copy after the great God, who has set himself to awaken sinners from their sleep, and to raise them from the death of sin, that they might receive light from Christ.” He saith. The Lord is constantly saying in his word what is more particularly expressed in Isaiah 60:1.
Or, Christ, by his ministers, who preach the everlasting gospel, is continually calling upon sinners to this effect: Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead. The same thing in the main is designed by these different expressions; and they serve to remind us of the great stupidity and the wretched security of sinners, how insensible they are of their danger, and how unapt they naturally are to spiritual motions, sensations, and actions.
When God calls upon them to awake, and to arise, his meaning is that they would break off their sins by repentance, and enter on a course of holy obedience, and he encourages them to essay and do their utmost that way, by that gracious promise, And Christ shall give thee light; or Christ shall enlighten thee, or shall shine upon thee.
“He shall bring thee into a state of knowledge, holiness, and comfort, assisting thee with his grace, and refreshing thy mind with joy and peace here and rewarding thee with eternal glory at length.” Observe, When we are endeavouring to convince sinners, and to reform them from their sins, we are imitating God and Christ in that which is their great design throughout the gospel.
Some indeed understand this as a call to sinners and to saints: to sinners to repent and turn; to saints to stir up themselves to their duty. The former must arise from their spiritual death; and the latter must awake from their spiritual deadness. (3.) Another remedy against sin is circumspection, care, or caution (Ephesians 5:15):
This may be understood either with respect to what immediately precedes, “If you are to reprove others for their sins, and would be faithful to your duty in this particular, you must look well to yourselves, and to your own behaviour and conduct” (and, indeed, those only are fit to reprove others who walk with due circumspection and care themselves):
or else we have here another remedy or rather preservative from the before-mentioned sins; and this I take to be the design of the apostle, being impossible to maintain purity and holiness of heart and life without great circumspection and care. Walk circumspectly, or, as the word signifies, accurately, exactly, in the right way, in order to which we must be frequently consulting our rule, and the directions we have in the sacred oracles.
Not as fools, who walk at all adventures, and who have no understanding of their duty, nor of the worth of their souls, and through neglect, supineness, and want of care, fall into sin, and destroy themselves; but as wise, as persons taught of God and endued with wisdom from above. Circumspect walking is the effect of true wisdom, but the contrary is the effect of folly. It follows, redeeming the time, literally, buying the opportunity.
It is a metaphor taken from merchants and traders who diligently observe and improve the seasons for merchandise and trade. It is a great part of Christian wisdom to redeem the time. Good Christians must be good husbands of their time, and take care to improve it to the best of purposes, by watching against temptations, by doing good while it is in the power of their hands, and by filling it up with proper employment - one special preservative from sin.
They should make the best use they can of the present seasons of grace. Our time is a talent given us by God for some good end, and it is misspent and lost when it is not employed according to his design. If we have lost our time heretofore, we must endeavour to redeem it by doubling our diligence in doing our duty for the future.
The reason given is because the days are evil, either by reason of the wickedness of those who dwell in them, or rather “as they are troublesome and dangerous times to you who live in them.” Those were times of persecution wherein the apostle wrote this: the Christians were in jeopardy every hour.
When the days are evil we have one superadded argument to redeem time, especially because we know not how soon they may be worse. People are very apt to complain of bad times; it were well if that would stir them up to redeem time.”
This concludes this Evening's Discussion, “Basic Christianity, Part 50.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on September 15th, 2020.
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