TITLE: SLEEPING CHRISTIANS
TEXT: Luke 22: 39-46
INTRODUCTION: Dwight L. Moody, by his own admission, made a mistake on the eighth of October 1871 -- a mistake he determined never to repeat. He had been preaching in the city of Chicago. That particular night drew his largest audience yet. His message was "What will you do then with Jesus who is called the Christ?" By the end of the service, he was tired. He concluded his message with a presentation of the gospel and a concluding statement: "Now I give you a week to think that over. And when we come together again, you will have opportunity to respond." A soloist began to sing. But before the final note, the music was drowned out by clanging bells and wailing sirens screaming through the streets. The great Chicago Fire was blazing. In the ashen aftermath, hundreds were dead and over a hundred thousand were homeless. Without a doubt, some who heard Moody’s message had died in the fire. He reflected remorsefully that he would have given his right arm before he would ever give an audience another week to think over the message of the gospel.
One day a lady criticized D.L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting to win people to the Lord. Moody’s reply was, "I agree with you. I don’t like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?" The lady replied, "I don’t do it." Moody retorted, "Then I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it."
1) When Christians sleep on Jesus, their mind
tends to become more carnal Romans 8:6
“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace.”
A. The Carnal mind destroys all activity for
God, which produces spiritual death.
B. The carnal mind fills the world with
misery, and destroys all our hopes and
happiness.
C. The carnal mind exposes us to the wrath to
come, and so to death.
Just as any good farmer would be ashamed of a
son who did not work during the harvest, and
let the crops worked so hard for go to waste,
so we bring shame to the heart of our heavenly
Father when we spend our days in idleness.
Some of us are like Jonah, who was spending
his time sleeping in disobedience in the hold
of the ship, running from God’s call to work
in Nineveh, when he should have been rushing
to the harvest (Jonah 1:5). Or perhaps we are like Peter, James, and John, who slept because
of weariness or indifference like they did no
the night before Jesus was crucified (Matthew 26:39-45). Whatever the reason, we
bring shame to God when we refuse to work,
just because we would rather do something
else, or sleep.
2) When Christians sleep on Jesus, they don’t
give themselves wholly to Christ for time and
eternity. Romans 12:1
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God that ye present (Yield) your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
A. We tend to give (yield)to earthly
pleasures rather than give (yield) to God.
B. When we don’t yield to God, we become
spiritually ignorant.
C. We much rather please man than please God
with our service.
3) When Christians sleep on Jesus, they try to
hide from God. Genesis 3:9-10
“And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said
unto him, Where art thou? And he (ADAM) said,
I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was
afraid, because I was naked; and I hid
myself.”
A. Men hide from God because of fear of man’s
sinfulness
B. Men hide behind false hopes, indifference,
excuses, self-righteous acts,innocence and
ignorance.
C. Hiding from God is impossible, only one
safe hiding place JESUS.
4) When Christians sleep on Jesus, His love fails
to show Luke 2:49
“And he said unto them, How is it ye sought
me? Wist ye not that I must be about my
Father‘s business?”
A. We don’t reveal the father John 17:3
B. We don’t destroy the works of the
devil 1 John 3:8
C. We hide the gospel from the lost 2 Corinthians 4:3
CONCLUSION: There is no question about it. The church must awaken from its sleep, and return to work in the harvest field, for they are white to harvest. It is expedient that the harvest be gathered in immediately. Tomorrow or next week will not do. The time is now.
The message to awake is also to those who continue to neglect to really trust Christ. To them, He would say, "Awaken, you who sleep." We must all become aware of our sinful condition, or at least our slothful condition. We need to ask His forgiveness, in light of the certain fact of coming judgment. God, in His mercy, has provided salvation through the death of Christ on the cross. We must take advantage of this salvation, and then get up from our slumber, and begin to work for the Lord. We must allow the Lord to come into our hearts, fill them with the light of the Gospel, and then go out in the power of the Spirit to reap the harvest.
There is never a time to quit, never a time to slumber, until we reach the end of our lives. George Whitefield, a British evangelist who lived about 200 years ago, exhibited great devotion to Christ. After preaching several times one day, he went to his room and prepared for bed. Then someone came and asked him to speak one more time because a crowd had gathered outside. Although very tired, he picked up a candle and said he would preach until it burned out. An hour later the flame flickered and died, and Whitefield closed in prayer and went inside. The next morning he was found on his knees beside his bed -- the flame of his earthly existence had glimmered and died.
