AWAKE OUT OF SLEEP

AWAKE OUT OF SLEEP!

Rom 13:11-14

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.

12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

The word “chambering” in verse 13 is very graphic and is from the Greek word koite (koy'-tay); a couch; by extension cohabitation; by implication, “illicit intercourse.”

The Lord is coming – on His way, perhaps! Our salvation, full and complete, is nearer than it was when we first believed.

Dr. Alexander MacLaren said: Time closing in upon us! "The time is short," or, as we might perhaps render it so as to give the full force of the metaphor, the time is pressed together. It is being squeezed into narrower compass, like a sponge in a strong hand. There is an old story of a prisoner in a cell with contractile walls. Day by day his space lessens -- he saw the whole of that window yesterday, he sees only half of it to-day. Nearer and nearer the walls are drawn together, till they meet and crush him between them. So the walls of our home (which we have made our prison) are closing in upon us.

Our national ills are a reflection of our personal ones. We have a “representative” form of government and in many ways our government represents us morally and ethically. We don’t like what we see but we can hardly deny it.

Dr. Adrian Rodgers said: When a nation loses its ability to discern morality, it embarks on a slippery slope toward self-destruction. America is in a crisis, and unless we have a moral rebirth, we will join the graveyard of the nations.

It is time to Wake Up! Samson lay in the lap of Delilah and laughed at her tricks time after time because he trusted in his amazing God-given strength. Looking back Samson knew he had slept too long.

It is time to Look Up! Jesus is coming. Now our full and complete salvation – even our entrance into heaven – is nearer than when we first believed. Jesus said when you see these things coming to pass; look up for your redemption draweth nigh.

It’s time to Pray Up! Satan is working as never before because he knows his time is short. We need to resist the devil so that he will flee from us. It is time for God’s people to clearly choose who we will serve.

Dear Lord, shake me awake! Show me what I can do to not only keep myself pure and prepared but to help my fellow believers to be ready for your arrival. AMEN