Romans 13:11-14 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.… I. A SOLEMN RESPONSIBILITY. "Knowing the time." Ignorance is a cause of sin, and is sometimes a just excuse for it. A blind man may fall into a pit; a sleeper cannot be blamed for his sleep. But it is different with these spiritual slumberers. The watchman's cry resounds (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6). Taught from earliest infancy, instructed in schools, with God's Word open and preached, what can we urge as an excuse for indifference? II. A CONDITION OF DANGER. "It is high time to awake out of sleep." This sleep — 1. Is an infatuation of Satan. He lulls the soul into false security. 2. Comes from the weakness of our nature. Persons in bad health often sleep much. 3. Arises from our own sloth. Like a person sleeping in a house on fire, unless the deadly charm is broken, we must be consumed. III. AN URGENT DUTY. "To awake out of sleep." The cry of the gospel trumpet is "Awake!" As the captain said to Jonah, "What meanest thou, O sleeper?" so the Holy Spirit says to the sinner. We have here — 1. Life depending on exertion. How many a man has saved his life, home, reputation, by energy! It is so with eternal life. 2. Exertion depending on self-determination. It is for us to wake, and to do so demands an effort. IV. A SOLEMN MOTIVE. "Now is our salvation nearer." This may mean — 1. The advance toward final consummation. Every moment brings us closer to the approach of judgment — that day which to the believer is the day of salvation. Each throb of the heart and each beat of the pulse is the requiem of a departed moment. 2. The accumulation of privileges. When the apostle wrote, the good news had advanced. It was easier to awake and believe. And if religion had advanced in those early days, what is it now? Surely, salvation is nearer now; it is about us, in our midst. Will you not awake and enter into the glorious rest of the Son of God? (D. Thomas, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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