Christians Urged to Awake Out of Sleep
nd thatknowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of 5/ee;>. — Romans xiii: 11.
The text is addressed to Christians. The language is figurative. The image is borrowed from natural sleep, in which a person is in a great measure insensible to the objects around him, although life continues to exist. Thus, when there is much insensibility among Christians to divine things, they sleep; but life remains in the soul.
Language somewhat similar is often addressed to impenitent sinners; but then the image is borrowed from the sleep of death. Hence the exhortation, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
The wise and foolish virgins went forth to meet the bridegroom; and while he tarried they all slumbered and slept. But mark the difference between them. The wise had oil in their vessels, but the foolish had none. The wise had life, but the foolish were dead.
The text, then, is addressed to the Christian, who was dead, but is alive again — to the Christian who is asleep, and who again bears the image of death. And now, it is high time to awake out of sleep,
It is proposed
I. To inquire when the Christian nieiy be said to be asleep.
II. Offer some motives which ought to induce him to awake.
I. When is the Christian asleep 7
1. He is asleep when he consults his own ease to the neglect of his duty.
Religion is the great business o’ his life. It imposes on him many duties which are painful and crossing to corrupt nature. Such, for example, is fiaternal admonition. “Exhort one another daily, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” “Thou shalt in any w’se rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him.” These are commands of God. To neglect this, and similar duties, through fear of incurring reproach, is indulging in spiritual sloth. You may sit down and rest quietly, if you will not disturb your fellow sinners around you with a sight of their sm and danger. This requires no effort. And here thousands resign themselves to rest. Individuals or a church may close their eyes on the conduct of an offender, and not make one effort to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; and this awful indiiference to the welfare of the soul, may assume the name of charity. The slothful servant will ever consult his own ease by sinful contrivance to shun duty.
2. As one in sleep is insensible to what is passing around him, so, in a measure, it is sometimes with the Christian. ‘J’hough not wholly lot to a sense of divine things, they make but a feeble or slight impression upon Lis soul. In ihis frame, he goes to (he house of God, and no v;onder that he soon forgets what he never felt. Once he saw the glory of God in the face of Jesns Christ; Init now he walks in darkness. Onc3 he had a deep sense of the worth of souls, and coiiLl weep over perishing sinners around him. He could say, “I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved.” But now he can behold the sight almost without emotion. Once, he seemed to be dead to the woild, and his conversation was in heaven. But now his conversation is engrossed with the aflfiiirs of the world. Ha can converse with ease and cheerfulness on the trifles of time; but on the great things of eternity, he has little or nothing to say — or if he speaks on these high and heavenly themes, it is in a dull and lifeless manner. He appears not to take a deep interest in the subject. He feels not the impressive weight of eternal realities. Consequently he talks like a person in sleep — he knows not what he says.
3. Another mark of this unhappy state of mind, is a reluctance to secret prayer. Piayer has been very properly styled the breath of the Christian. Has a person been any considerable time withoift the spirit of prayer, it is a sign that he is asleep; and if he is not soon waked from this breathless state, we shall be compelled to’ believe that he is dead.
How far these, and similar remarks apply to Christian professors present, is best known to themselves. One thing is certain. It is not my business to cry peace in the ears of any who are asleep.
I proceed
H. To offer motives to induce sleeping Christians to awake.
1. Consider the time. It is gospel time. The light of the gospel has risen upon us; and those who do not open their eyes on tlic glory of this light, must remain in eternal darkness and despair. For ‘’ if our gospel he hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto ihem.^^ The light of heaven is shining upon you. And can you sleep 1 “Behold now is the accepted time; hehold now is the day of salvation.” The business of this day will not suffer you to sleep. It calls loudly upon you to awake. Think, my Ijrethren, have you nothing to do? Have you nothing to do for yourselves? Have you no sins to repent of — no evil propensities to mortify 1 Are your evidences of grace, sufficiently bright 1 Are you willing to die as you now are? If you have any thing to do for yourselves, it is high time to awake out of sleep. «’ Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.”
Have you nothing to do for your brethren? Is no brother or sister wandering from the path of duty? Go, and in a feeling, friendly manner, ‘^ tell him his fault between him and thee alone.” Why hesitate 1 Delay not. Duty calls. God commands, and love to his soul demands that you go without delay. “If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”
Parents, where are yoin* children 1 Are they all secure within the ark of safety? Doubtless, you pray with and for them. But this is not all your duty. Have you ever taught them that they are sinners, and that they” must be born again 1 And are you urging them to remember their Creator now in the days of their youth? Were you (his dny called to part with one of your children; should you feel satisfied that you had done vour duty? Have you not one word more of instruction, of counsel, or of warning for your children before yon meet them at the bar of God 1 If so, then it is high time that you who are parents should awake to a sense of your duty — that you should set your houses in order and prepare for death.
Again — It is high time to awake, because others are up and active about us. The men of this world shame us by their conduct. They rise up eaily and sit up late. They plan and execute. Labor, fatigue and hardship are nothing to them, if they can but collect a little of this world together before they die. They are laying up treasures on earth which moth and rust will soon corrupt. And shall not you be as earnest to lay up for yourselves a more enduring substance — a treasure in the heavens? They are laboring for the meat which perisheth, but you are called to labor for that which endureth unto everlasting life. Do you not feel reproved by their conduct? Is it not humiliating to think that the children of this world are, in their generation, wiser than the children of light?
Again — Remember, my brethren, you are on the field of battle. It is high time to awake, because the enemy is up and active about you. The prince of darkness, and all the ranks of evil angels, are your enemies. The malice of their legions is directed against the Redeemer’s kingdom. “War is declared with all saints. And the legions of hell have gone up upon the breadth of the earth. The great adversary is already in possession of the hearts of all wicked men. They are his servants. The Devil is styled the “prince of this world” — “the ruler of the darkness of this world.” This is ‘’ the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Remember, it is not a feeble foe with whom you have to contend. You are called to “wrestle not merely with flesh and blood; but before the victory is won, you will have to grapple with angelic powers — wiih pyincipalities and powers. Your enemy is crafty. Snares and temptations are laid thick around you, and unless you are wakeful, you will certainly be ignorant of his devices. That moment when you let down your watch, the enemy began to come in upon you like a Hood. And I would blow the trumpet and sound an alarm. Awake Ihou that sleepest. Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. Think not to find a bed of sloth on the field of battle. Awake and “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” “Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate 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 all the fiery darts of the wicked.” Awake, then, for your enemies are many, powerful and crafty.
Another reason why you should awake, is, that sinners are perishing around you. While you sleep, your example will contribute much to their destruction. Yes, while you sleep, the world may be stumbling over you into perdition. Little does that ungodly professor of religion think what a train of immortal souls may be following him down to hell. It is a fact not to be concealed, that one ungodly professor of religion may do more to prevent the conversion of sinners, than many infidels. I know that it is most unreasonable that mankind should sufler themselves to be thus forever ruined. It can surely be no consolation to the sinner in hell, that he was led there by a hypocrite.
Brethren are heaven and hell fables 1 If so, let us treat them as such. Or are they eternal realities’? Whence, then, this seeming indifference to the interests of the soul? Do you verily believe that within a few days, you shall be in heaven, singing the song of redeeming love, or in hell with the devil and his angels 1 Have you seen your own danger, and fled for refuge from the wrath to come, and do you feel no concern for the souls of others 1 Or are there no sinners in this place? Have they all become righteous 1 Do all profess to know the Lord from the least to the greatest’? Is there no prayerless family in this place, on which God has said, he will pour out his fury? — No prayerless youth to whom God hath said, I will cast thee off forever’? My brethren, if there is one impenitent sinner here wha is in danger of going into that place of eternal torment, can you sleep? One sinner in this house! — one inhabitant of hell! Solemn thought! One soul in this house that will be forever lost! Who can it be? Could you bear to hear the name 1 ‘’ Who among us shall dwell with devouring flre ‘? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ‘?” Have you not reason to believe that many are now living without hope, and without God in the world ‘? ‘’Wide is the gate and broad is the way which leadeth unto death, 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.”
Wherever God pours out his Spirit, and calls up the attention of sinners to divine tilings, he will be inquired of by bis children to do it for them. This he has taught us in his word, and often in the language of his providence. This he has taught you in days that are past. It is high time for you to awake out of sleep, for others are awake. Sinners at n distance are alarmed, and hundreds are flocking to Christ. And can you sleep? Are there not souls here, to be saved or lost forever? And are not these souls as precious as others? And is not God a prayer hearing God 1 Hath he forgotten to be gracious? Is his mercy clean gone forever, and will he be favorable no more? No, my brethren, “the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear.” Come, then, “ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence, and give him no rest till he establisb, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” For Zion’s sake, hold not your peace; and for Jerusalem’s sake do not rest. It is time to seek the Lord till he come and reign righteousness upon you. And to your prayers, my brethren, fail not to add a friendly warning to the sinner.
You who know by experience the awful condition of a sinner out of Christ — who know that he must be lost, unless excited to inquire “what must I do to be saved?” Have you not sorrow enough in youi hearts for your brethren, your kindred according to the flesh, to take them by the hand, nnd say, friends, I fear that all is not well with your souls — ye must be born again. Prepare to meet your God. Have you not courage? Dare you not act a part so friendly to the souls of men? How many, think ye, may be lost through your neglect? If we do not warn sinners, my brethren, God has warned us. He will make inquisition for blood. To every watchman on the walls of Zion, God saith, “If thou speak not to warn the wicked; — the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand.” What is your zeal, brethren, for the salvation of souls, compared with that of the Son of God? “He beheld the city and wept over it.” ‘’ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.”
“Did Christ o’er sinners weep,
And shall our tears be dry?”’
What is your zeal, when compared with that of Paul ‘? “I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for my brethren, my kindred according to the flesh.” ‘’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.” There is a dreadful storm of divine wrath coming upon the world of the ungodly. It is high time, then, to awake out of sleep; for ‘’ their damnation slumbereth not.”
Again — Consider how long you have slept, and you will see that it is high time to awake.
How many months — and of some, may we not ask, how many years have you slept in God’s vineyard? And still you continue to sleep away the day of salvation. Let me tell you that yoin- sleep is awfully dangerous. If not shortly awaked, God in anger will say, ‘’ Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see.”
Again — Consider what time of day it is with you, and you will see that it is high time to awake.
How long has your sun been up? Your best season is already gone. With some, I perceive, the sun has ah’eady passed the meridian. Yes, it is nov, hasten-
/ffa SERMONS AND REMAINS
ing its rapid descent. Aged fathers, your sun is now casting its last beams upon the mountains. “Yet a little while, is the light with you.” ‘’ Woik while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work.” If then, you hiive any work to do — if you have any word to leave for your brethren, or for your children, they are now waiting to hear it. Delay not, for while I am speaking, the night is coming on. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, doit with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor wisdom, nor knowledge in the grave whither thou goest.”
The believer ought to awake and take a view of the glorious prospect, which lies just before him.
Come, then, ye mourning pilgrims, you who have long traversed the wilderness, asking the way to Zion, you who have long labored, and prayed, and groaned to be delivered from the bondage of sin; your struggles for eternal life, shall have an end. Look up — and lift up your heads, for behold your redemption draweth nigh.” It is high lime to awake out of sleep, br noi« is your salcation nearer than when ye hel/eyed^ — nearer than it was last year — nearer than it was the last Sabbath — nearer than ever before. This night you may wake up amid the songs of angels, and a crown of glory may be placed upon your heads.
“Short is the passage, short the space,
Between my home and me;
There, there behold the radiant place,
How near the mansions be!”
Awake, then, and behold the glorious dawn of that bright day, when “the sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.”
Finally — It is high time to awake, for all who do not awake in time, will suddenly awake in hell. There is great danger of being deceived, and thus only dreaming of heaven. The Christian can never sleep soundly, but is always disturbed. “I sleep, but my heart waketh.” He cannot sleep long. He will soon be affrighted, and wake up awfully alarmed. But there are those who sleep soundly. They are at ease in Zion. They neither weep for their sins, nor “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Their hope of heaven is a pleasant dream which cannot be broken. And here they sink down into a deep sleep. The Christian church is a net which gathers of every kind. Ten virgins professed to be followers of Christ. Of this number, five only were real Christians. “Many are called, but few chosen.” Many will go to the bar of God with hopes no better than a spider’s web. Many who now commune together on earth, will never meet in heaven. Many who now appear to be real Christians, will, no doubt, to our surprise, be found on the left hand of Christ. The person who has professed religion with a false hope, is rarely induced to give it up. It is like the giving up of the ghost. What meanest thou, 0 sleeper? If you will not, now awake, I entreat you, throw away your hope of heaven. ‘’There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and you, yourselves thiusL out.” “And behold, there are last, that shall be first, and there are first that shall be last.” Better abandon your hope, and conclude that you are lost, than sleep any longer; for then you will awake in earnest to inquire what must we do to be saved? “Watch ye, 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 there will be great confusion; for thousands will be deceived. “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed.”
“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 wJiich remain that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works peifect before God. Remember therefore, how thou hast received and heardy and hold fast, and repent. If, therefore thou shah not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shah not know what hour I will come vpon Ihee.^^
And now it is time — it is high time to awake, because many will be forced to awake, when suddenly they shall lift up their eyes in hell, being in torments.