Sleeping Christians

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.