Live Like You Were Dying

Message Description:

Since Christ will return at any moment, how should we live as we wait for His return? Thankfully, God’s Word gives us insight and wisdom in answer to this question.

• Two Natures
• Dr. Jeremiah’s message – “Live Like You Were Dying”
• One last word from Dr. Jeremiah OR Next Time on Turning Point

Many followers of Christ are really surprised to discover that when they become Christians, their old nature doesn’t go away.
Maybe you’re among those who think when you got saved, your own nature was eradicated.
But if you believe that, ask your spouse.
How many of you know that we become Christians, but we still struggle with sin because we used to have just an old nature, and we couldn’t do anything but sin.
But when we became Christians, we got the Holy Spirit, and we now have a new nature, and we have 2 natures within us.
We still carry the desire often to sin, which is necessary for us to fight against.
We have to work against the things that Satan wants to do to destroy us.
And that there’s a wonderful little poem that I’ve quoted many times over the years of my ministry that more than anything else helps me to understand that here’s how it goes.
2 natures beat within my breast.
The one is foul, the one is blessed, the one I love, the one I hate, and the one I feed will dominate.
Isn’t that interesting? The nature that you feed, so Paul is saying, if you’re a Christian, you still have the old nature and you need to put off the darkness.
You know, there’s no such thing as darkness. Did you know that?
Darkness is just the description of the absence of when light comes darkness goes away.
In Romans 13, 11 through 14, there is a signature passage, and do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.
For now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed, The night is far spent.
The day is at hand, therefore, let us cast off the world of darkness.
Let us put on the armor of light.
Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
But put on the lord Jesus Christ.
And make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust using terse blunt words Paul offered 4 keys to help us live our lives in this time with urgency and not to get caught up in the seductiveness of our generation, but remain close to Christ walking with him.
Let me give you those 4 things.
First of all, he says, watch, vigilantly, Romans 1311, and do this, he said, knowing the time that now it is high time to wake out of sleep.
For now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
If you have read that in the Bible you would discover, that there are 5 references to time, knowing the time, now is the high time.
Our salvation is nearer the night is far spent the day is at hand.
It has always been important to understand the times.
The Bible tells us we should be interested in what’s going on.
We should look forward to what the Bible says is going to happen.
You hear the lord Jesus scolding his critics.
And he says to them, you know how to discern the face of the sky, but you can discern the signs of the times.
Jesus said, you’re great weather people, but not very good prophecy people.
In other words, they watch for the rain or for the setting of the sun, but they didn’t watch for any spiritual signals.
Today’s technology lets us consult 7 day forecasts with reasonable accuracy.
Doctors can predict that certain diseases may occur even before they manifest themselves.
But all the while, we are remarkably blind to the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives, were hypnotized by the rhythm of life as if this moment has no bare on eternity, and everything is going to continue to be the same as it always has been.
We need to get aware of what’s going on And they would just say, yeah, prophecy is good.
Jesus is coming back someday. So let’s get on, uh, what what ball game are we gonna watch tonight?
You know? Some people laugh at the very thought of the Bible predicting the future.
The scoffers who would come in the last day saying, Where’s the coming of the lord?
From the beginning people have been talking about the coming of the lord, and he hasn’t come yet.
No matter what others may ever think no matter what theologians may write, no matter how much the skeptics doubt.
Ladies and gentlemen, the return of Christ to this earth is certain. It is going to happen.
I can’t tell you when. I’m not even going to attempt to do that.
Not only is the lord’s coming certain, but according to Paul, it is imminent.
And do this, he wrote, knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep For now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believe.
Listen to those words. When I use the word imminent, I am not using a calendar word, I am not setting a date for the lord’s return.
Evidence does not mean immediate. It simply means that something could happen at any moment and that nothing has to occur before that moment takes place.
If we understand the proper meaning of that word, we will realize that the coming of Christ could have been just as imminent in the 1st century as it is today.
As we learned from the pronouns that the men used, they thought Jesus was coming in their lifetime.
Now, the way Paul expressed this truth about our lord’s return in this passage, causes some confusion.
Did you hear the verse? For now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed If you want a good answer for those who ask you when the Lord’s coming back, there it is.
Somebody said, do you know when Jesus is coming back? Yeah, I do. It’s sooner than when I first believed.
He’s coming back sooner than when I became a Christian. You will always be right if you say that.
You don’t have to worry about anybody contradicting you. That’s perfect answer.
But what did Paul mean when he said our salvation is nearer than one we believed?
I mean, after all, isn’t our salvation in the past?
When Paul uses the word salvation here, he was seeing that concept in its completeness. In its fullness.
For instance, the moment we say yes to Christ, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and our sins are washed away and we are saved.
To the image of Christ.
We become more like Christ. We are being sanctified. That’s what that means to be made holy.
And then ultimately, when we stand before the lord someday, we’ll be made perfect and set free of every sin.
Here’s a good way to remember this. There’s 3 tenses to salvation. Listen carefully.
Past, I have been saved from the penalty of sin.
Present, I am being saved from the power of sin.
Future, I will be saved from the very presence of sin.
Salvation, past, present, and future, I have been saved from the penalty of sin.
I am being saved from the power of sin, sanctification teaches us how to be victorious in our life.
But ultimately one day, when I stand before the lord, there will be no sin in heaven.
There will be no presence of sin.
I will be saved from the presence of sin, and my salvation at that moment will be complete when Jesus takes me to himself.
Now, Paul is saying that that part of our salvation, when we are freed from the very presence of sin, when we stand in the president of the lord, That part of our salvation is nearer than when we believe he was saying, he’s coming back and his coming is nearer than when you became a Christian.
I mean, that might not mean anything to you, but it tells us this is a moving target.
We don’t know what it is. I think I’m gonna be around when it happens. I hope you are.
I tell everybody I’m looking for the upper taker, not the undertaker. Right? Aren’t you?
I think we all agree about that. We we yeah.
We vote for the rapture. Right?
The whole purpose of the rapture is to inject into our spirit a sense of urgency to take it seriously.
This is not just about knowing more about what’s gonna happen in the future.
It’s knowing what’s gonna happen in the future so we can get our act together now.
So we can start living with a little more concern about what’s gonna happen. We are to watch vigilantly.
And then the Bible says we’re to war valiantly verse 12.
I don’t watch you can feel like a relatively passive thing, like watching paint dry.
But Paul had other plans and other priorities in mind for his followers. He said, Listen to this.
The night is far spent The day is at hand.
Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.
What are you saying is, listen, The stuff is gonna happen we’ve been talking about, but don’t get caught up out there.
Remember what that’s teaching us is, we gotta make some changes now.
We’ve gotta look at our own lives and realize if Jesus came back tomorrow, what would you have to do today to be sure you wouldn’t get get embarrassed when he showed up?
First of all, Paul told the Romans to put off darkness. The night is far spent.
The days at hand cast off the works of darkness.
When Paul tells us to put off darkness, he chose a decisive verb.
It means to deliberately purpose significantly and permanently put aside the things of darkness.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever discovered this, but darkness is a term used often in scripture to describe the life that we lived before Christ came into our lives.
Ephysians 58, for instance, says this, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the lord.
So walk as children of light.
How many of you know that we become Christians, but we still struggle with sin, because we used to have just an old nature, and we couldn’t do anything but sin But when we became Christians, we got the Holy Spirit, and we now have a new nature, and we have 2 natures within us.
We still carry the desire often to sin, which is necessary for us to fight against.
We have to work against the things that Satan wants to do to destroy us.
And that there’s a wonderful little poem that I’ve quoted many times over the years of my ministry that more than anything else helps me to under in it.
Here’s how it goes. 2 natures beat within my breast.
The one is foul, the one is blessed, the one I love, the one I hate, and the one I feed will dominate.
Isn’t that interesting? The nature that you feed, so Paul is saying, if you’re a Christian, you still have the old nature and you need to put off the darkness.
You know, there’s no such thing as darkness. Did you know that?
Darkness is just the description of the absence of light when light comes darkness goes away.
And then that helps us to understand his next comment.
He says, put off the darkness and put on the light. Paul’s second command is even more positive.
When we are told to put on the light, he is using ship with Jesus.
John said, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
Because Jesus is coming back, get off your hands quit being so cautious and take some chances for the lord.
Ask some people if they know Jesus. We’re to watch vigilantly. He’s coming back.
Were to war valiantly against them evil in our system and live in the light, not in the darkness.
Here’s the third thing, were to walk virtuously Let us walk properly verse 13 says, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
And I hate to tell you this, but these words were addressed to Christians.
He’s not writing this to pagans. He’s writing this to the Roman Christians.
And he’s saying to them, don’t do these 6 things.
These 6 listed sins here fall into 2 categories.
The first three have to do with public disgrace, and the last three have to do with sins that can hide in the human heart before they are manifest in the light of day.
All of them are understood to be sins of the night and opposed to what you are as a Christian.
The things that he lists in this paragraph have no place in the life of a Christian.
What fellowship does light have with darkness? None.
And we can’t we can’t make an impact on this dark world if we’re as dark as the world is.
And so you gotta win him to something. Amen?
So first, thessalonians 55, Paul wrote to the Lennikins, he said, you are all sons of light and sons of the day.
We are not of the night. We are not of the darkness. We are not were of the light.
So reject public sins, reject revelry and drunkenness and lewdness, There used to be a day when if you were a Christian, it meant something.
I know there’s a whole issue about lists of things the dirty dozen, the terrible 10 nasty 9, all the things she’s not supposed to do, you know, I grew up in a kind of environment where that was true.
But we’ve swung the pendulum clear to the other end. We’re not against anything anymore.
You can be in many churches and just live like you never changed a when you became a Christian.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible calls us to holiness.
It calls us to a certain way to walk, a certain way to live.
We’re not only to reject public sins, but we’re to renounce the private ones as well.
And then Paul says to these Christians, watch vigilantly, war valiantly, walk virtuously and wait mictoriously.
Put on the lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.
You can’t have confidence if you’re always making concessions to the enemy. Oh, well, they want to understand.
Well, that’s alright. They don’t have to understand.
You know, what we’ve learned, uh, as Christians over the years, my children went to secular schools, David played football at a secular junior college, and my son, Daniel, played in secular schools.
And they were always the brunt of criticism, which you know what?
When the people who criticize them, got in any kind of trouble, those were the first people they wanted to talk to.
Isn’t that interesting? When they see that you’ve got the guts to live a different kind of life, and you don’t party like everybody else, and you just stand up and be who you are, and don’t be ashamed.
Walk with god, walk with honesty, walk in integrity.
So listen listen to how Paul concludes this lesson. He says, put on Christ.
He tells us that we’re to put on the lord Jesus Christ. How do you do that?
What does it mean to put on Christ? Every day when you get up, you put him on.
You say, today, lord, you and I are going into this dark world, and we’re gonna make a difference with the people we are around.
We’re gonna show people the influence of Jesus Christ. Amen.
And then I love this one because this is so practical.
We are to make no provision for the flesh That means we’re not to allow ourselves any possibility to gratify our desires.
Believers who have been saved out of addictive life style should weigh carefully Paul’s words here.
The strategy for victory is to avoid the situations that enabled your addiction.
Don’t put yourself in places where you’ll be tempted. Be ruthless in putting those old habits to death.
Do it pointedly Do it piteously and do it permanently. Do not plan for sin.
Don’t give it any welcome. Don’t offer opportunity, kick the scent off your doorstep, and it won’t get in your house.
Amen? There’s an old saying that goes like this, call upon god and roll away from the rocks.
The idea is to put yourself in the best situation to succeed and move as far away as possible from the place of failure.
Now I wanna tell you a story.
I remember one time as a little boy, We used to go to a cottage when I was living in Toledo, Ohio in a place called Petoskey, Michigan.
There was a woman up there who had a beautiful home we’d go up there.
And one day, uh, I was up there with my parents. The rest of the family went someplace.
I think they’re the grocery store, and my mother said to me, Whatever you do, David, you stay away from the lake.
I don’t want you messing around. I’m at the lake.
I don’t want you down there when nobody’s here, so don’t go near the water.
So guess what I did? I went down, and I was kinda looking.
I think I was trying to catch some fish off the dock. And I fell in.
And before I could get back to the cabin, my parents returned, and my mom was furious She said, what in the world would you do?
And she told me. I said, it was an accident. She said, well, you got a swimming suit on.
What do you mean? It’s an accident.
And she told me I said to her, well, I just took the swimming suit in case I got tempted.
There’s what I’m talking about. Don’t put yourself in a place to be tempted.
That’s what Paul is saying. If you wanna make a difference, if you realize Jesus is coming back and you don’t wanna be embarrassed when he comes back, live your life in such a way that you will be proud to meet him when he comes because you’ll be walking in the light.
I read a book about habits, and this isn’t even a Christian, but listen to this.
This is pretty pretty close to scriptural truth. He said, Every environment promotes some behaviors and prevents others.
The key is to be in an environment that supports the results you want to achieve.
The people who surround us fill our days with little cues and triggers that can make our habits easier to follow or harder to build.
Are you fighting your environment to make change happen, or does your environment make your new behavior effortless?
If you’re struggling with something, that’s getting you, even as a Christian, and you’re finding you’re not living victorious, and you’re letting the devil get an advantage.
Maybe you should change your environment. Maybe you should get with different people.
If you’re with people who do the things you used to do and you’re trying not to do them, you are playing a game.
You can’t win. The influence of so many peers on you will destroy you.
Don’t set yourself up by failure, by saying in an environment that encourages you to do wrong.
You get it in an environment, you find friends, small groups are a part of that, that encourage you to do right and help you lift up your spirit and lift up your life.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw the film, the passion of the Christ.
We sat and watched a bloody, gory graphic depiction of everything Jesus endured for our sake.
My own prayer was, I’ll never forget it, was this.
Lord helped me to live my life from this moment onward in such a way that I never do anything to hurt you or break your heart, not after what you’ve done for me.
That should be something of our prayer. That’s the power of the cross.
When we become Christians, Christ comes to live in us, and we learn to be uncomfortable with everything that grieves him just knowing, really knowing that Christ lives in you is the greatest motivation toward godliness that you ever have.
So in many ways, that knowing is the key to victory and spiritual challenge pale beneath that core.
The Epic War movie Saving Private Ryan tells the story of a rescue mission centering on young private James Ryan during World War 2.
Most of you have seen it.
When a senior official in Washington DC learns that 3 of James Brothers were killed in action.
He orders a special mission to bring the young man home to his mother.
The last of her sons.
Unfortunately, James Unit is missing in action somewhere in France So, captain John Miller is tasked with assembling a squad and finding private Ryan, a mission he accomplishes.
But when young private Ryan refuses to abandon his soldiers.
Captain Miller and his squad are forced to defend him in the middle of a terrible battle against the enemy.
James Ryan survives this battle, but captain Miller and most of his squad are killed.
At the end of the film, a mortally wounded captain Miller pulls the stunned private forward and says with his final breath, James, you earn this, you earn it with your life.
And the scene flashes forward to the present where James Francis Ryan now in his eighties is paying homage to Captain Miller’s grave at Omaha Beach in Normandy.
Overcome with emotion, perhaps some guilt.
James speaks to the grave marker as if he’s addressing Captain Miller and the rest, and he says, I hope I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.
Of course, no one could ever merit such a great sacrifice. No matter what they did.
Nobody could earn it. Thankfully, no gift is ever earned, especially the gift of eternal life.
That’s the truth about salvation. We cannot earn our salvation either before or after.
There’s nothing you could ever do to pay God back for the sacrifice he made for you through the death of his son.
But here’s what the Bible says.
In Ephesians 41, it says, live a line worthy of the calling you have received.
Live a life that’s worthy of what Jesus did on the cross.
Think often about his death and his sacrifice for you and pray the prayer that I prayed.
Lord, I don’t wanna ever do anything to hurt your heart after what you’ve done for me.
I’m sure I will do it because I’m a sinful creature.
But that’s the message I wanna leave with you because of what Jesus has done for us.
And because he’s coming back one day to get us in the rapture, let’s avoid anything that will sully the splendor of that whole event.
As followers of Christ, let be alert and watchful and vigilant with one on the headlines and the other on the Eastern skies and let us learn to live like we were dying because one day Jesus is coming to get us.
Can he get a witness?
And now with one last word for today’s program, here is Doctor Jeremiah.
Who among the followers of Jesus wouldn’t be thrilled to hear the blast of the trumpet, catch the shout of the angel.
And feel the upward pull of the magnetic, rapturous grace of god, calling us out of this world and letting us see our lord Jesus face to face.
The most important question is, will you be among Christ’s followers who are rapt Prayed that you can answer with a resounding yes.
But if you’re unsure or find yourself not knowing Jesus Christ in a personal way, I want to invite you to put your faith in him today.
To help you, please allow me to send you 2 resources from Turning Point.
1 is a book called your greatest turning point, which will introduce you to Jesus Christ.
The second is my monthly devotional magazine turning points, which will in expire you to grow closer to god into the future.
And I will gladly send these resources to you completely free if you’ll just contact us here at Turning Point today.
Next time, on Turning Point.
The rapture is a time in the future when the lord Jesus Christ is going to return to receive to himself every single person who has put their trust in him for eternal life.
And the Bible says we’re gonna meet the lord in the air.
All of us will be reunited with the lord Jesus Christ. The great reunion.
Joining Doctor Jeremiah next time for a great disappearance interview with Doctor Jeremiah and Shear Walsh.
Here on Turning Point.