Calvary Road Baptist Church
“Professing Christians, Awake!” [1]
Romans 13.11
Our text is Romans 13.11:
“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.”
Our text is addressed to Christians. Paul here pictures a natural sleep in which a person is unaware of what’s going on around him, but life remains in his body. Thus, it is when a believer is insensitive to spiritual things going on in the lives of people around him. You sleep. But life remains in your soul.
Understand, however, that in the Bible, this kind of language is sometimes addressed to unsaved people. In those cases, the image of sleep is borrowed from the dead who sleep in the dust. An example of sleep relating to unsaved people is found in Ephesians 5.14:
“Awake, thou that sleepest, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
In that verse, Paul is warning believers not to fellowship with the unsaved he has just described.
In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus Christ taught a parable in which the wise and the foolish virgins both went forth to meet the bridegroom.[2] While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.[3] But between the two types of virgins notice a difference. The one type of virgin has oil in her vessel, while the other has none.[4] One has life, while the other is dead. Yet both groups of virgins are asleep.[3]
Our text, then, is addressed to the Christian who was dead, but is alive again, to the Christian who is asleep and again bears the image of death:
“Now it is high time to awake out of sleep.”
I want you to consider two things: First, I want you to consider when a Christian may be described as sleeping. Second, I want you to consider what motives there are which ought to induce that Christian to wake up:
First, WHEN DOES THE CHRISTIAN SLEEP?
When does the genuinely saved person, the one who has truly come to Jesus Christ for salvation, sleep? Let me provide for you three earmarks of the Christian who is sleeping the sleep Paul refers to in Romans 13.11:
First, there is the earmark of your selfish desires beginning to conflict with Christian service. When that happens, you are sleeping. Christian, serving God, is the great business of our lives. To do good works is one of the primary reasons God saw fit to see us saved. And our life in Christ imposes on us many duties which are painful and inconvenient to our corrupt nature. This is why Hebrews 3.13 admonishes us,
“But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
In other words, we are supposed to rebuke our neighbor when we see him sin. This is the command of God. To neglect this responsibility and similar duties toward other Christians, for fear of their negative reaction or rejection of us, is to be spiritually lazy. It’s to defy the clear command of God. Oh, we can sit down and rest quietly so we won’t disturb the sinners around us, all the while clearly seeing their sin and wickedness. And of course, this requires no effort at all. Right here on this spiritual recliner is where many Christians resign themselves to rest. You individually, or our whole Church, may close our eyes on the conduct of an offender and be silent. This cold and silent indifference to a brother’s soul can be erroneously justified as Christian charity and an unwillingness to be judgmental. But what it really is is an unwillingness to lift even a finger to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, Galatians 6.1. The slothful servant will always do that which is conducive to his own relaxation by sinfully contriving to shun his Christian duty, and, of course, finding a way to justify it.
Second, there is the earmark of being asleep by being insensitive to the spiritual activity going on around you. As one who is asleep is unaware of anything around him and is oblivious to what is moving around in the room he is sleeping in, so, in a fashion, is it sometimes with you, Christian. You may not be completely unaware of spiritual realities, but those realities really make only a very slight impression on your soul. Isn’t that true?
For example, you come to Church, sit in the preaching service, and then go home without any lasting impression being made on your heart and soul. And no wonder. You soon forget what you never felt because you were spiritually asleep. Once upon a time you may have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But now you walk in darkness. Once you may have had a real sense of the worth of souls and you could weep over perishing sinners around you. “I beheld the transgressors and was grieved,” Psalm 119.158 says. That used to describe you. Do you remember? But now you can endure the sight of sin-wrecked lives, almost without emotion. How does this happen? With some people it is their own children ruined by their sins and parents who can no longer bring themselves to face the tragedy and deal with it. With others it is the challenge of an unsaved spouse.
This terrible state of mind is further seen in your daily conduct and lifestyle. Once upon a time, you seemed to be dead to this world. Remember when your discussions with other people were discussions of the things of God? But now your attention is all engrossed with worldly things. You talk with ease and cheerfulness about trivialities, like computers or sports, but on the great topics of eternity you now have little or nothing to say. Or, if you do speak about high and heavenly themes, it’s in a dull and lifeless manner. You seem to glance over the things of God as if they were trivial. You no longer appear to take an immediate interest in spiritual subjects. The weight of eternity no longer weighs on you. When you do get trapped into spiritual conversations you mostly stand there and say nothing. You no longer know what to say.
A third earmark of this unhappy state of mind is a reluctance to private prayer. Private prayer has been properly described as the breath of the Christian. Have you continued long without much praying? It’s a sign that you are asleep. And if you don’t wake up soon, we can only conclude that you are not asleep at all but dead. How many of these earmarks applies to you professing Christians here today is best known only by you. One thing is certain. It is not my job as your pastor to whisper calm and soothing words in the ears of any of you who are asleep. My job as your pastor is not to soothe you.
Second, WHAT MOTIVES OUGHT TO INDUCE YOU TO AWAKE FROM YOUR SLEEP?
There are several motives that ought to stir you from your slumber:
Our first motive, consider the time. My friends, it’s Gospel time. Gospel sunlight is shining on you like the sun come up in the morning. And you who do not open your eyes on the glory of this light must remain in eternal darkness and despair. For
“if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them,”
Second Corinthians 4.3-4. The light of heaven is shining upon you, and you can sleep?
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,”
Second Corinthians 6.2. This is not the time to sleep. Today is the day for Gospel work, for evangelism, for witnessing. Today is the day of salvation! Bring a visitor in. The business of this day is too important for you to sleep if you are really saved. The urgency of the hour calls on you to wake up! Think. Do you have nothing to do for yourself? Have you no personal sins in your life to deal with? Are there no habits and tendencies to address? Are the evidences of God’s grace in your life bright enough to be seen by others? Do you love God with all your heart? Are you perfectly obedient to God’s revealed will? In short, are you willing to go to heaven the way you are right now? If you have anything to do for yourself before your promotion to glory, it is high time to awake out of sleep.
“Prepare to meet thy God,”
Amos 4.12 says. Have you nothing to do for your brothers and sisters in Christ? Is there no believer wandering from the path of duty you need to talk to, to correct, to restore? Go to that person in a feeling, friendly manner,
“Tell him his fault between thee and him alone,”
Matthew 18.15. Why hesitate? Don’t delay — duty calls. God commands. And love for your friend’s soul demands that you go without delay.
“If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”[5]
Parents! Where are your children? Have all your kids come to Christ? No doubt, you pray with them and for them. But this is not all you should do. Have you ever taught them that they are sinners? Have you ever declared to them that they must be born again? And are you urging them to remember their Creator now in the days of their youth? If you lost one of your children today, could you rest satisfied that you had done your duty with that child? Have you not one word more of instruction, of counsel, or of warning for your child before you meet him at the judgment bar of God? If so, mom, dad, then it is high time that you awake to a sense of your duty. Now is the time that you set your house in order and prepare for death, not later. “Oh, but my grown child doesn’t want me to bring up such things.” That’s just too bad. Children, no matter their age, do not tell their parents what and what not to talk to them about. Should they ever end up on a gurney and unable to speak, they will remember what you insisted on talking to them about, and they will be thankful in the next life.
Our second motive, consider your enemies. Again - It is high time to awake because others are not slack in opposing you. Unsaved people frequently put us to shame by their commitment to what they deem important. They rise up early and sit up late. They prepare and plan and execute. Labor, fatigue, and hardship are nothing to them if they can collect a little of this world’s goods before they die. They are laying up treasures on earth, which the moth and rust will soon corrupt. Should we not be as diligent in laying up for ourselves a more enduring legacy - a treasure in heaven? The lost are laboring for what perishes, but we are called to labor for that which endures unto everlasting life. How do you feel about that? Do you not feel somewhat challenged by their conduct, to think that the unsaved are in their generation wiser than the children of light? Again, my friend, you are on the field of battle. And it is high time to awake, for the enemy is up and active all around you. The prince of darkness with all his demons is your enemy. And all their hatred and envy is directed against the Savior’s people in this world. War is declared against all the saints. And the legions of Hell have roamed the world over to hunt you and destroy you. We know that Satan is already in possession of the hearts of all lost people. They are his servants already. The devil, you will remember, is the prince of this world. He is the ruler of the darkness of this world.
“This is the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,”
the Bible declares. While you sleep, he and his are all sowing tares among us and destroying everything around us. The Lord Jesus said,
“He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”
So, how do you plan to respond? Recognize that it’s not some wimp we are up against. We are called to wrestle and not with flesh and blood. This is a struggle. But before the battle is won we will have to grapple and contend with angelic powers, with principalities and powers in high places. Our enemy is crafty and ruthless. Snares and temptations are laid all around us, and unless we are fully awake and alert we will be ignorant of his devices. That moment when we let down our guard the enemy will come in on us like a flood. My responsibility is to come and blow the trumpet and sound the alarm.
“Awake thou that sleepest.”
Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Don’t lay down on the field of battle. Awake and
“put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye may be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked,”
Ephesians 6. Awake, then, because our enemies are many, powerful, and crafty.
Our third motive, consider the perishing. Another reason why we should awake is because folks all around us are going to Hell. While you sleep, your example will contribute much to your neighbor’s, to your relative’s, and your child’s destruction. Yes, while you sleep the world may now be stumbling as they step over you toward their destruction. Little does that ungodly new evangelical or Roman Catholic or Pentecostal think of the souls who may be following him down to Hell. It is a fact not to be denied that one ungodly pretend Christian may do more to hinder the conversion of a sinner than many who are obviously ungodly. How unreasonable that sinners should suffer themselves to be forever ruined in this way. Of what consolation will it be to the sinner in Hell that he was led there by a hypocrite? If Hell is real, then how is silence justified? How is the seeming indifference to the souls of men explained that allows sinners to go to Hell without much concern? Do we really believe it is possible to be in heaven in moments, singing the song of redeeming love, or in Hell in the case of the unsaved? Have you ever seriously pondered your own soul’s danger, and fled for refuge from the wrath to come? If so, how can there be no concern for the souls of others? Are there no sinners in the auditorium? Has everyone here turned to Christ? Do we all profess to know the Lord? If there is one unconcerned sinner among us who is in danger of going to that place of eternal torment, can we sleep? One sinner in this building! One soul here that will be lost forever. Who can it be? Who among us will perish forever in the fire? Who among us will dwell with everlasting burning? Have we not realized in our Church that many known to us are living without hope and without God in the world?
“Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,”
Matthew 7.13-14. Wherever God chooses to send the Holy Spirit to convict sinners of spiritual things will be in response to the prayers of believers praying for those who are lost. We are taught this in His Word, and we see this in our experience. It is time for you to wake up. There are sinners in other countries who are alarmed, and they are now, in regions beyond, coming to Christ. And we do little or nothing? Are there not more souls here to be saved or lost forever? Are those close to us not precious? And is He not a prayer-hearing God? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Is His mercy gone forever? And will He be favorable no more? No, my friend.
“The Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save. Neither is His ear heavy that it cannot hear.”
“Come then, ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence, if ye speak not to warn the wicked; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand,”
Ezekiel chapters 3 and 33. Consider our Lord’s concern for the salvation of souls. He looked out over the city and wept over it:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.”
“Did Christ o’er sinners weep? And shall our tears be dry?”
How about the zeal of the Apostle Paul? He wrote,
“I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
And again, he wrote,
“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.”
God’s dreadful wrath is coming upon the ungodly. It is high time to awake out of sleep, because the coming damnation of the lost does not sleep.
Our fourth motive to awake, consider your sleep. Consider how long you have slept and you will see that it is time to wake up. How many months since you have actually and effectively served God? And of some may we ask, “How many years have you slept this spiritual sleep?” And still, you continue sleeping away the day of salvation? Let me tell you that your sleep is very dangerous. If you are not shortly awakened, God in anger will say, “Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see,” Romans 11.10.
Further, consider what time of day it is with you, and you will see it is high time to wake up. How long has your sun been up? Your best season of life may already be gone. With some of you the sun has already passed noon. Yes, it is now beginning its rapid descent toward the sunset of your life. You have only a few hours of sunlight left.
“Work while it’s day; the night cometh when no man can work.”
If then you have any work to do, any word to leave for your family, or to your children, they are now waiting to hear from you. Don’t delay, for while I am speaking, the night is coming.
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest,”
Ecclesiastes 9.10. You ought to wake up and take a view of what’s ahead of you. Look up and lift up your head, for behold, your redemption draweth nigh.
“It is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is your salvation nearer than when you believed.”
Nearer than it was last year. Nearer than it was last Sunday. Nearer than ever. Tonight may be the last time you ever pillow your head.
Finally, it is high time to awake, for all who do not wake up in time, will suddenly awake in Hell. There is great danger of being deceived into only dreaming of going to heaven. The believer can never sleep soundly but is always disturbed. “I sleep,” says the believer, “but my heart is awake.” And he can’t sleep long. You see, the believer gets startled and wakes up alarmed. But you sleep soundly. You are at ease in Zion. You neither weep for your sins nor rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Your hope of heaven is a pleasant dream which no one seems to be able to rouse you from. How is that explained?
Modern Christianity is like a scoop that gathers up every kind of animal off the ocean floor. In that parable of the Lord’s, those ten virgins picture those who professed to be followers of Christ. But of the ten only five were real believers. You see, as the Lord Jesus said,
“Many are called, but few are chosen.”
Many will go off into eternity to stand before God with no more hope of heaven than a spider web in a bonfire. Many who now commune together in the Church house here on earth will never see each other in heaven. Many who now appear to us to be real Christians will, no doubt, to our surprise, be found on the left hand of Christ, and will be cast into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
It is almost impossible to persuade a sinner who has professed to be saved to give up his false hope. The hope of the hypocrite is like the giving up of the ghost. He will hang onto that false hope until he dies. The Lord Jesus said,
“For there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out.”
And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last. Better fling away your hope, and conclude you are lost, than to sleep any longer; for then will you wake up to inquire, “What must I do to be saved?” But it will be too late.
“Watch therefore; for ye know not when the master of the house cometh; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.”
“At midnight the cry will be made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh.”
“Then will there be great confusion.” For thousands will be deceived. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
Jesus Christ said,
“These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
And now it is time. It is high time to awake out of sleep, because many will be forced to awake when suddenly they shall lift up their eyes in Hell, being in torment.
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[1] Adapted from a sermon by Asahel Nettleton
[2] Matthew 25.1
[3] Matthew 25.5
[4] Matthew 25.8
[5] Matthew 18.15
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