Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ!

And knowing the time, that now is high time to awake out of sleep: for our salvation is now 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 ARMOUR 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 NO PROVISION FOR THE FLESH, TO FULFIL ITS LUSTS THEREOF. Romans 13:11-14

I confess these verses are just "shouting" at my face. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ? make no provision for the flesh?  Let us put on the armour of light? How does all of that takes place...?
Does Christ's word has a say to the way we live? Does the Bible tells in detail how life is to be lived? I guess if there is a time to concern ourselves with finding answers to those questions this time is just now. How long will we sleep for? How long will we live as if Eternity is not a reality?


[On the verses above] we are taught a lesson of sobriety and godliness in ourselves.
Four things we are here taught:
1. When to awake
2. How to dress ourselves
3. How to walk
4.What provisions to make
1. Now it is high time to awake: to awake out of the sleep of sin ( for a sinful condition is a sleeping condition ), out of the sleep of carnal security, sloth and negligence, out of the sleep of spiritual death and out of the spiritual deadness.
We have need to be often excited and stired up to awake. " Awake and be concerned about your souls and your eternal interest, take heed of sin, be ready and serious in, that which is good, and live in a constant expection of the coming of the LORD.
It is gospel time, it is the acceptable time, it is working time, it is a time when more is expected than was in the times of that ignorance which GOD winked at, when people sat in darkness.
The eternal happiness we choose for our portion is now nearer than it was when we became Christians. Let is mind our way and mind our pace, for we are now nearer to our journey's end than we were when we had our first love. The nearer we are to our centre the quicker should our motion be.Is there but a step between us and heaven, and shall we be so very slow and dull in our Christian course, and move so heavily?
The more the days are shortened, and the more grace is increased the  nearer is our salavtion, and the more and vigorous we should be in our spiritual motions.

2. How to dress ourselves:  the night is far spent, the day is at hand: therefore it is time to dress ourselves:
" Clearer discoveries will be quickly made of gospel grace that have been yet made, as light gets ground.'
What we must put off: put off our night clothes which is shame to appear abroad in. Cast off the works of darkness.Sinful works are works of darkness, they come from the darkness of ignorance and mistake, they covet the darkness of privacy and concealment, and they end in the darkness of hell and of destruction.
What we should put on: ' our care should be wherewithal we shall be clothed, how shall we dress our souls?
 (1) Put on the Armour of Light: Christians are soldiers in the midst of enemies and their life a warfare, therefore their array must be armour, that they may stand up their defense- the Armour of God ( Ephesians 6:13).
"A Christian may reckon himself undressed of he be unarmed'.
The graces of the Spirit are his armourm to secure his soul from Satan's temptations and the assaults of this present evil world.
(2) Put on the Lord Jesus Christ: Put on Christ that includes all. Put on the righteousness of Christ for justification, be found in Him ( Phil 3:9) as a man is found in his clothes, but on the priestly garments of the elder brother, that in them you may obtain the blessing. put on the Spirit and grace of Christ for sanctification; put on the new man ( Eph 4:24 ), get the habit of grace confirmed, the acts of it quickened.'
Jesus Christ is the best clothing for Christians to adorn  themselves with, to arm themselves with, it is decent, distinguishing, dignifying and defending.
Without Christ we are naked deformed, all other things are filthy rags, fig leaves,  a sorry shelther. GOD has provided coats of skin - large strong , warm and durable.By baptism we have in profession put on Christ ( Gal 3:27), let us do it in truth and sincerity.
The Lord Jesus Christ," put him on as LORD to rule you, as Jesus to save you and in both as Christ, anointed and appointed by the Father to this ruling saving work.


to be continued... (How to walk, what provisions to make).

excerpt of MHC on  Romans 13 :11 14,  it can be read online here or it can be downloaded to your E-sword Bible software.

May the LORD be with you.
In Christ