Brother Cody Henson is preaching
for our friends in San Diego today. I try, when our brethren
are preaching in these different places, to correspond with them,
encourage them. And I wrote to Brother Cody several
times, Friday and yesterday, and corresponded with him, encouraging
him to preparation. always prepare diligently, studiously
for preaching of the gospel of God's grace. Brother Lindsey
was looking for a quote from Scott. I believe this is what
you were looking for. Preaching is a nobody telling everybody
about somebody who can save anybody. And every preacher who's worth
listening to knows that he's nobody, nothing, an empty, meaningless,
useless, worthless, broken, dirty vessel, but a vessel through
whom God is pleased to speak. And if God speaks through that
vessel, you will be blessed of God if you hear him. But that
preacher must prepare with diligence, with determination, with sobriety,
with honesty, studiously, prayerfully prepare to preach God's message,
seeking God's message for the hour when it stands before God's
people. I sometimes hear folks say to
me, I've heard you preach that message. Just recently somebody
said, I've heard you preach that message three times and I just
smile, but I really want to punch them. That's never the case. You may
have heard the same text, the same title, using the same outline,
but I don't preach without fresh preparation. If I have to stay
up all night, I stay up all night. But I don't know that I've ever
been less prepared personally from my own experience to bring
a message than the message I have for you today from Romans chapter
13, verse 11. Wake up. Wake up. That's the message. of God the
Holy Ghost to you and me in Romans 13 verse 11. Wake up, wake up. 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. Brother Mark Medley
had been making plans sometime now to make a career change.
He was gonna start driving a truck. I'll tell you something about
old truck drivers. Mark, my dad, was one all my life. And he drove
over across the country on long haul trips. And the law required
that he had to be off eight hours before they could call him back
to work. Well, when you're off just eight
hours, you rarely get to sleep eight hours. Most of the truck
drivers in those days, I guess all of them that I knew personally,
kept two sets of logs. One they had to turn in, and
that one they kept according to books. Another one they kept
so they'd know what they was doing. Rarely did the two sets
of logs match. They were always cheating on
the time because they weren't allowed to drive it so much time
in a day so they'd make it look like that's all they did. Most
of them drove taking goofballs so they'd stay awake. I don't
know what they call them now. They called them goofballs then.
Pills to make them stay awake. I guess that was better than
them driving down the road to sleep. But I would go in and
try to wake my father up after he had just been in bed for a
little bit because they had called him to go to work. And after
they called him, he had one hour to get there, be ready to go.
And it wasn't an easy task when he'd only been in bed for a short
time. I'd go shake him, say, wake up! Wake up, Dad, they've
called, wake up! And then I'd leave, come back,
he's still asleep. I'd shake him again. Wake up,
Dad, they've called you to work, wake up! Sometimes, I've even
been known to throw a little cold water on his face, duck,
and run. But he was sleepy, and he didn't
want to wake up. Sleeping people seldom do. sleeping people seldom do. This exhortation, wake up, wake
up, is not addressed in this text of scripture to ungodly
and unbelieving people, but to godly believing people. These
words are not spoken to those who are dead in sin, but to those
who are alive under God. These are addressed to saved
folks, not unsaved. To sleeping saints, not lost
sinners. Now I stress this fact because
there are many who seek to correct the errors and the sins and the
failures and faults of God's people by threatening them with
the loss of reward. threatening them with punishment
for their sins, or implying that their sin indicates that really
they are lost, seeking to undermine the assurance of God's people.
Our text says nothing like that, though obviously in a terrible
condition. There's no indication that Paul
held these believers at Rome with suspicion as he did with
the Judaizers at Galatia who were turning back to the Lord.
He said, I stand in doubt of you. Rather, in the very teeth
of their indolence, Paul was inspired by God the Holy Ghost
to assure the saints at Rome of their everlasting salvation.
You see, salvation is by grace alone. God's faithfulness is
not determined by our faithfulness. Oh, how I thank Him for that.
God's goodness is not dependent upon our goodness. God's grace
is not dependent upon you and me. God's grace is free, immutable,
sovereign grace, indestructible grace, for it is grace given
to us in Christ before the world began, and the gifts and callings
of God are without repentance. God will never change His mind
concerning you who He is. He will never undo His choice.
He'll never take away his grace. Fallen saints are not to be treated
as reprobates, but as brethren beloved of the Lord. Fallen brethren
are not to be castigated or exposed as though they were exposed hypocrites,
but rather helped as fallen brethren. Helped by their brethren and
helped by God's servants. God's servants are not to take
out the whip of the law and beat folks into subjection and obedience. The terrors of law and of God
with us can have nothing to do. Our Savior's obedience and blood
hide all our transgressions from view. Even if the saint's hearts
are dull and their eyes heavy and they're evidently fast asleep,
We're not warranted in raising false alarm. It's not for us
to tell the heirs of salvation to awake because they're in danger
of wrath to come. There's no such danger ahead.
All such danger is past and gone forever. Rather, it is ours to
remind God's saints that their salvation is nearer than when
they believe. I call on you as God calls me
from our text this morning. Wake up! Wake up! But the motivation is altogether
a motivation of grace. The stirring is altogether the
stirring of grace. There's no law involved in it. Grace alone is our motive. Grace alone is our inspiration. Grace alone is our rule. The
whip of the law is for the slave, not for the child of God. The
dread of punishment is for the condemned, not for the justified. The fear of wrath are for those
who are without Christ, not for those who are accepted in the
beloved. and that knowing the time, that
now it is high time to awake out of sleep. And here's the
reason, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. I repeat, this entire chapter
is addressed to the church and people of God, to you who are
born again, It was addressed to God's church at Rome, and
it is addressed to God's church in Danville. It was addressed
to those early first century believers, and it is addressed
to you and me. The Spirit of God is calling
for us, look at verse 12, to cast off the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light. He's urging us to come out of
darkness and walk as children of the light. The message of
our text is a message intended for you and for me, who are redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ, saved by God's free grace. Wake
up, wake up. May God, the Holy Spirit, whose
word this is, give me grace and power and wisdom to speak his
word. As I've said, I repeat again,
this is a call to God's saints. Do you remember when first God
called you? It would be wise to think of
it often. He called us out of darkness
We were overwhelmed with darkness. Let us now be overwhelmed with
light. We were overwhelmed with damnation. Let us now be overwhelmed with
God's salvation. When he called, he gave us light. Until he called, God's elect
were just like all others. children of wrath, even as others.
We were completely dead in trespasses and sins. We had no knowledge,
not of ourselves, not of God, not of grace, not of righteousness,
not of salvation. Since he called us, when he called
us, he gave us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ, bringing immortality and life
to light by the gospel. Only after the son of righteousness
arises upon us and in us with healing in his wings do we see. Only after we're called from
death to life do we walk in light. As that first call was altogether
the call of God's grace, so all after calls are by his grace. I preach to you and pray for
you. We meet together here three times
a week and I preach to you and we sing God's praises and we
pray for one another and pray for God's grace and we shake
and nudge and prod and urge and try to awaken one another. But the waking can't be done,
not by me. not by you. You can't awake yourself,
and you can't awake another, and you can't be awakened by
your preacher, your pastor. Every call must be made effectual
to our souls by God the Holy Ghost even now. Only as He turns,
Bill, this hour will you turn to Only as he draws you will
you run after him. Only as he speaks will you hear. So hear this word from God. May God the Holy Ghost speak
it to you by his grace. Let us be overwhelmed with his
goodness and his grace as we were in the beginning. Overwhelmed
with his salvation, consecrated to him as we were in the beginning
with fresh renewed devotion to our blessed Redeemer who's washed
us in his blood, sanctified us by his grace and saved us from
the wrath to come. The children of God are so beset
infirmities of the flesh, as long as we live in this world,
that we constantly require the grace and power of God the Holy
Ghost to awaken us and cause us to run after Him. It is a
great mercy of our Redeemer that He does frequently come to awaken
us. Be careful not to spurn His love
and grace, but awake to Him, rise to Him, open to Him, and
He will give you the light of His presence, His grace, and
His salvation. Awake, awake, blessed saints
of God, redeemed with precious blood, by Christ redeemed, by
Christ made just, awake to Christ your trust. walk as children
of light and day in his beauty arrayed. And let me make two
or three statements with regard to this message, Awake, Awake. First, here is a message from
God for sleeping saints. And that knowing the time, that
it is now, right now at this moment, High time to awake out
of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Paul tells us it's time to wake
up. It's high time for you and me
to awake out of sleep. We don't like to be reminded
of it, especially when we're sleeping. But there is a shameful,
horrible tendency, condition to which all of us are terribly
prone to fall. It's here described as sleep. You have a parable given by our
Lord in Matthew 25. I urge you to read it quickly
after you get home today. About 10 virgins, The wise and
the foolish. The wise being God's elect. The wise being redeemed sinners.
The wise being those who have been made alive to Christ by
God's free grace. Alive with Christ. Alive in Christ. The foolish are those who merely
profess to be alive. But in the parable, both the
wise and the foolish are found sleeping. And while they're sleeping, the
wise can hardly be distinguished from the foolish. How sad. That's the shape we
find ourselves in most of the time. God forgive us, it's our fault,
it's our doing, God forgive us. We find ourselves most of the
time sleeping when we should be fully alert and active. Tell me my brother, tell me my
sister, do I speak in error concerning you? We go through the motion. We
exercise our duties and responsibilities, and I urge you, don't quit doing
that. That's not the answer. But we
find ourselves, for the most part, most of the time, sleeping,
like the wise virgins in the parable. The sleep I'm talking
about is a sleep of shameful indifference. I remind you I'm not talking
about a spiritual sleep of death, but a spiritual sleep of indifference. The sleep of living men and women,
men and women truly born of God, believers on the Lord Jesus Christ,
men and women who in their hearts truly love the Savior, but they're
asleep. Yes, those who love the Redeemer
often find themselves by their own neglect. I repeat, Jerry,
it's our fault. It comes from neglect. Sinfulness. We find ourselves indifferent.
Is that not what we read back here in the Song of Solomon?
Look at it again. Song of Solomon chapter 5. Verse 2, I sleep, but my heart waketh. I'm not dead. I know my heart waketh because
it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to
me, my sister, my dove, my undefiled. Lord Jesus comes by His Word,
perhaps right now as I read the Word to you and declare it to
you, perhaps as you lay on your bed at night struggling with
your indifference and your callousness and your sleep of soul, your
sleep of heart, your sleep of indifference. Perhaps as you're
driving down the road, trying to find some way to draw near
to God, the Lord comes to you by his word. And he says, open
to me, my sister, my dove, my love, my dove, my undefiled.
What a way to address me. Vile as I am, nothing's changed
as far as he's concerned. Still his love, his dove, his
undefiled, made so by him. Open to me, for my head is filled
with the dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I've
been in Gethsemane praying for you. I've been at Calvary dying
for you. I've accomplished all for you.
And we respond this way most of the time. Oh my God, forgive
my indifference. I'm doing all right. Don't disturb me right now. I've
got other things to do. I put off my coat. How shall
I put it on? I've washed my feet. How shall
I defile them? I'm in bed and I'm comfortable.
I don't wanna be disturbed. Did those words pierce your heart
like they do mine? Have you, like the church at
Ephesus, left your first love? Have the precious Christ, His
precious blood, the precious gift of faith in Him, the precious
promises of the gospel somehow become less than precious to
you? Have you forgotten the joy of
believing? Has your grasp of the Savior
lost the strength of freshness? I must confess, yes. Is it so with you? If you're born of God, I know
you've seen your sin. But has the fresh conviction
of sin once felt so deeply now become no more than a doctrine
you acknowledge? I know you see the righteousness
of Christ. But has the righteousness of
Christ now become to you no more than a point of doctrine about
which you argue with men? It was once a blessed garment
of salvation in which you wrapped your naked soul and were comforted.
I know you've seen God's judgment of sin, how joyfully you bathe
your soul in the precious blood of Emmanuel, our Savior. the
atonement of Christ, his finished work of redemption, his substitutionary
death, his precious blood, once so very joyous to your soul. As these things now become little
more than facts, you insist upon. I know that you've seen the beauty
and the freshness of Christ, unto you therefore which believe
he's precious. The joy of earthly things fades
with the familiarity and use. That's just the way it is. You
get that brand new car. I've never had a new one. I've
had some pretty close, and they still have that smell of new
leather. Man, that thing smells good. And then the baby messes
in the car, and the new's gone. The joy of earthly things fades
with familiarity and use. Let it not be so with our Redeemer
and the things of God. The doctrine of Christ is like
a rose on a bush. As long as it's on the bush,
the rose is beautiful and sweet to smell, blooming with life. But we're never content to leave
the rose on the bush. We got to pick them and set them
in a little vase on our little table in our little room and
look at them and enjoy the smell for just a little while. And
then in a few days, they start to wither and turn dark and you
pick them up and throw them away. because the rose has lost the
sweet fragrance and the radiant beauty with our familiarity. So it is, I fear, with the doctrine
of Christ. We sometimes say, I love election,
and that's all right, I guess. I love predestination. I love
limited atonement. I love this doctrine or that. But the doctrine, Isolated from
the Savior, soon begins to turn dark somehow and loses its fresh, sweet aroma
and seems to wither. Now, I don't suggest that we
should be indifferent or callous with regard to doctrine. You
know better than to even think such a thing. Doctrine is essential. There is no Christ without the
doctrine of Christ. But you can sure have doctrine
and not have him. The doctrine, like the rose on
the bush, is sweet, precious, and fragrant, only as you see
the doctrine in the Savior. Mark, we argue with folks about
limited atonement, we ought to be talking to them about the
Savior who atones. We argue with folks about election,
we ought to be talking to folks about Christ who chose us. We
argue with folks about predestination, we ought to be talking about
Christ who rules. Do you understand what I'm saying? All of y'all take a good look
at that lady right there. She got on that beautiful black outfit,
that white jacket trimmed in black. I like that, I bought
it for her. She wasn't even around. I can't
do that very often anymore. I used to could, but things,
clothes sizes have changed and all. I picked that out and brought
it home and bought it for her. Man, it looks good on her. But
if you should see me, You happen to be busy in the house one night,
and I go to the closet, and we start to get ready for bed, and
I turn the bed back, and I snuggle up next to that outfit. Please
call somebody to take me to the Thunder Farm. I popped a cork.
It's not that outfit that looks so pretty. The reason I bought
it is I could see it on her. She makes it look good. It's not the doctrine that makes
Christ look good and makes him lovable. It's Christ that makes
the doctrine look good and makes it lovable. Oh, God, give us
grace to walk constantly in the arms of our Redeemer. Brother
Maurice Montgomery used to say, snuggle up as close as you can
to him. The sleep Paul's talking about
is the sleep of carnal indifference and carnal security. A sort of
spiritual drowsiness which sometimes overtakes God's people in this
world. And somehow things that used
to matter everything matter little. We get wrapped up with what we're
doing. and where we are, and what we
have, or what we've got to get, or what we've got to keep. Wrapped
up with the things, the cares of this world, the cares of this
life. Would to God we would wisely
wake up every day and mark every tree in the forest of life in
this world. I've never built a house or cleared
a piece of property and built a house, but I understand when
a fellow is making plans and he's sharp about what he's doing,
he'll go into a wooded area and he can picture where he wants
his house. and exactly which trees he wants
left standing. And he'll go in there and mark
this tree and that. And just mark them. Those are
the ones to be cut down. Every tree in this forest will
soon be cut down. We ought to wake up every day
marking the trees. Not finding a way to save them,
but mocking them, recognizing they will soon be cut down. We
look not at the things which are temporal, but at the things which are eternal. For the things which are temporal
are but for a moment. The things which are eternal
are for eternity. We live in this world where everything
is temporary, withering, and dying. Everything you can touch, everything
you own or think you do, every relationship Everything is temporary,
withering, and dying. We ought to treat it that way. We're going to a world where
everything is forever. Death is real. Judgment is real. Heaven is real. Hell is real. Oh, God, will you
by your Spirit scream in my soul? Every moment of every day. Eternity. Eternity. Eternity. Eternity. Eternity. There's no time for
time. Eternity alone matters. It's high time to awake out of
sleep. Awake to the reality of eternal
things. Awake to the reality of divine
things. Awake to Christ. Awake to Him. God keep us from that horrid
familiarity that causes us to neglect Him. Husbands and wives
have a horrible, real knowledge of exactly what I'm saying. Once in a while, we'd still watch
Andy Griffith's show. And Barney and Thelma Lou weren't
married, but they were planning on it when they got to be about
60 or 70, I reckon. But Barney said to Gomer one
day, he said, I've got Thelma Lou right where I want her. I've got her in my hip pocket.
That was the wrong thing to say, Gomer told Thelma Lou. And it
was a tough, tough day. I've got that lady right where
I want her, in my hip pocket. I know it. God let me never treat
her like that. Brother Ed Hale had a song. I
love to hear him sing it. I've got a pardon in my pocket.
Some folks think that's just too familiar. Christ is mine. I know He is. He's mine. Let me never treat Him without
care and love and fervency. You do the same. Awake, awake. How come? For now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. We are living on the brink of
eternity. Our redemption draws near. That
is the completion of our deliverance. The time is coming when it shall
be ours, saved at last. The top stone will be laid in
its place with shoutings crying grace, grace unto it. Shall we sleep with heaven at
hand? Shall we sleep When we're at
the door of the Father's house about to enter the joy of our
Lord, we're now standing upon the threshold of glory. How can
we sleep? The night is far spent. The day
is at hand, so cast off the works of darkness, the bedclothes of
sin and indifference. Put on the armor of light, the
whole armor of God as those that are about to enter their final
conflict. Walk honestly, confident and assured as in the day. Not in rioting, frivolity, playing
games, not in drunkenness. not in chambering and wantonness,
sensuality and lasciviousness, not in strife and envy. Put ye
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our armor. And make not
provision for the flesh. Make no provision for the flesh.
Your physical pleasures, your carnal well-being, your
base nature. Many, many years ago, my dear
friend, Brother Harry Graham told me something. I try to remember it. He said,
somebody said to me the other day, a preacher, you've got to
live in this world. And Harry said, I looked at him,
stopped what I was doing. He said, no, sir, that's the
one thing I don't have to do. That's the one thing I don't
have to do. I don't have to live in this
world. Make not provision for the flesh. Are you suggesting, Brother Don,
we should live carelessly and irresponsibly? No, no. I'm suggesting that you should
live very responsibly, carelessly, without care for these things,
without care for these things. It's time to await. But if we are his, we must be
awakened. And blessed be his name, our
Lord will graciously awaken us. We saw that too in the song with
Solomon, the watchman, the family. The keepers of the wall took
away my veil. The Lord comes and speaks by
his word by the call of His Spirit. He puts His hand in, makes us
to know His presence, and then He causes us to rise
Him and seek after Him. And if we rise and seek after
Him, He will be found of us. Listen to this. You don't need
to turn back to the Song of Solomon. In chapter three, by night on my
bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him but I found
him not. I will rise now and go about
the city in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him
whom my soul loveth. I sought him but I found him
not. The watchmen, the preachers,
God's servants, God's messengers that go about the city found
me. Finally, God's word came home to my heart, to whom I said,
saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed
from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth. When I found
him, I held him, and I would not let him go. It's high time to awake out of
sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Now turn over a few pages to
Ephesians chapter five. Here is a message from God to
poor, lost, spiritually dead sinners. Like Romans 13, Ephesians
five is addressed to God's elect, I'm well aware of that. But what
Paul says here to God's elect, God's word says repeatedly throughout
the book. Verse 14, wherefore he saith,
awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light. Awake, arise, and. Some of you are in the sleep
of death, spiritually dead, without God, without Christ, without
hope, without life. And God, by the gospel, says
to you, awake, thou that sleepest, and rise from the dead. But pastor,
we have been taught well in this place. You know and we know,
I can't come to God. I can't awake myself. I can't
arise from the dead. I'm glad you know that. That's
exactly true. But God commands you to do what
you have no ability to do. Now listen to me. Come here,
listen close. I want everyone of you to hear
me. If God speaks his word to you and commands you to awake
and commands you to arise, you can awake and you can arise. I'll give you proof. To the lame
man, Christ said, take up your bed and walk. Well, he can't
do that, he's lame. Watch it. He took up his bed
and walked. To the blind, he said, wash and
see. But he blind, he's washed his
face many times. The Savior said, wash and see. And with the word from God to
that man came the ability to see. To the man with a withered
hand, the Savior said to him, stretch forth your hand. He can't
do that. His arm's been withered all his
life. Watch it. with the command coming from
God. In effectual power comes the
ability. To Lazarus, after he had been
dead for four days, the Son of God said, Lazarus, come forth. What fool can expect that? He's
talking to a dead man. He rolled away the stone, but
Lazarus is still dead. Watch it. Lazarus came forth. With the command from God comes
the ability. You ask, Brother Don, can I come
to Christ? If you can, you can. If you can, you can. Come and
welcome. Come and welcome. Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But I don't have enough light.
Folks have the idea that you find Christ if you get enough
light. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
When you've got the light, you get light. You get light by coming
to Christ. But I haven't repented enough. Look to me, he says, and you
will mourn for me as one mourns for his only son. You don't find
repentance and come to him. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Well, Brother Don, how can I
come to him? Any way you can get to him. any way you can get to him. It's called believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's called look unto me. It's called come to me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Awake. Wake up. Wake up. God help you to wake up. Amen.