Think about what is being said here. "This is the age of the Enchanted Ground." Do you agree with that? Do you agree with the writer of The Biblical Illustrator that this present age is a "lax age" - "lax in doctrine, lax in principle, lax in morals, lax in everything - and only God can come in and help the Pilgrim to keep awake in this Enchanted Ground"?
Is the contemporary Church being affected by this "lax age" or "age of the Enchanted Ground"? Is it possible that there are "believers" right now in the various churches who are "fast asleep" or even "half asleep"? What about you?
Notice what The Pulpit Commentary had to say on this - "Many Christians are asleep. They are inactive and idle, and are doing nothing to prepare the way of the Lord." Then The Biblical Illustrator added this - "A very large number of us are half-asleep."
What about you? Are you "asleep" - spiritually speaking? Or, perhaps it cannot be said that you are "asleep" but "half-asleep" - not backslidden but not where you should be in the Lord.
Could this be the reason why so many are feeling the burden to pray for a Second "Great Awakening" to come to the Church?
If you are not yet convinced that a Christian and even a Minister can be "asleep," allow me to direct you to Jonah 1:6 where you find the Prophet Jonah slumbering while in imminent danger.
"So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not."
In a sense, what the "shipmaster" was asking Jonah was this - "What is come to you? What kind of senseless stupidity has seized you? What ails you? What sort of disease has taken hold of you that you do not recognize that this is no common storm?"
This was not a time to "sleep" when the ship was like to be broken to pieces and all lives would be lost - including Jonah's.
Like so many in the Church today, he was "running from God." Hence, he behaved like a presumptuous and very ignorant man. His slumbers (due to his disobedience and sin) caused him to be unaffected by the danger...unbroken by the noise above and around...and unconscious of his peril.
The Biblical Illustrator said this in response - "It is deeply censurable and absurd, even to nature's eye, to be secure in trouble."
The Family Bible Notes added - "In times of great peril, backsliders from God are generally the last to see and understand their situation."
What about you? Are you unconscious of the peril or danger surrounding your own life or even your nation because you are fast asleep, half-asleep, or have grown "lax" in this "lax age" or "age of the Enchanted Ground"?
Can you hear the Holy Spirit vociferously calling out - "Wake up, O Saint of God! Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up!"?
Sometimes the children of God are experiencing a stupid insensibility caused by their opposition to God and His truth. Consequently, they are inattentive to their post, neglecting their duty, and unprepared for Christ's coming.
In Ephesians 5:14, Paul issued the call by saying - "...Awake thou that sleepest..."
Said another way - "Wake up, O Saint of God!" It is time to arouse from a state of slumber and false security whereby you are unconscious of what is going on around you...are insensible to any danger that may be near...are not hearing when God calls ...are living in the customary neglect of self-examination...and are having no conflicts with sin and temptation.
Then, in 1 Thessalonians 5:6, Paul admonished the believers of all ages with these words - "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."
Here he called the Church to be morally alert...to remain spiritually awake...to keep watch ...to be spiritually prepared in order to escape the wrath of that day...and to continue in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.
The saints of God are not to "sleep, as do others." They are not to sleep the sleep of sin and sinful security whereby all of their spiritual senses are bound up and they are apprehensive of duty and regardless of danger.
Being distinguished as "children of the day," (1 Thessalonians 5:5) they are not to give way to a careless unconcerned state of mind - living in lusts and pleasures...living in stupidity and carnal security ...living unmindful and uninfluenced by the great truths of the Gospel...living careless and thoughtless about the coming of the Lord...or living as though there is no eternity.
When Paul admonished the believers to not "sleep, as do others," he was also referring to them not having worldly apathy to spiritual things ...being secure and careless of duty... becoming lukewarm ...being regardless of spiritual enemies ...dozing away precious moments ... indulging idle dreams... having no thought or care about another world... and never thinking of a judgment.
Charles Spurgeon offered one way to avoid "sleeping," when he said - "Friend, live near to the cross, and thou wilt not sleep."
And we find another way of promoting Christian wakefulness in Pilgrim's Progress where Christian and Hopeful said on their way to the Celestial City - "To prevent drowsiness in this place, let us fall into good discourse."
So, if you isolate yourself and walk alone, you will be liable to grow drowsy. However, if you hold Christian company - sweet counsel with others - taking care that the theme of your converse is always Jesus - you will be kept wakeful by it.
Throughout the Scriptures, we find that the state of sin is a state of slumber. When man is in a sound sleep, he forgets the past, forgets what manner of man he is, forgets the great lessons of God's Word and providence, and forgets what he owes the Lord. He has no spiritual discernment.
The Biblical Illustrator said - "God often, in His providence, disturbs the sleep of men."
We often refer to this as a "wake up call." God, in His Providence, will send circumstances of various kinds (sometimes severe in nature) - hoping to awaken men from their indolence, indifference, thoughtlessness, security and false peace, sloth and inactivity.
Have you received a "wake up call" from the Lord lately? Is your nation presently receiving a "wake up call" from Jesus?
In Romans 13:11, Paul also said - "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."
The "sleep" Paul was referring to here was insensibility...being asleep to the concerns of eternity... leaving your first love...running well but then being hindered...and being secure amidst all the danger by which you are surrounded.
In the world, there is this constant influence to produce this stupor. Worldly business, pleasure, honor, and applause become the means of bringing us to a state of declension. Hence, the Christian must be mindful of the tendency to "sleep" under such influence - to settle down into spiritual apathy - that drowsy, slumberous inactivity that is utterly inappropriate for any believer in Christ.
Here Paul was issuing a call to all believers to a more spiritual and watchful life - a call to stir up yourself and strain toward the mark, spur forward, and run faster than ever before. The reason being is because "now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."
Every day brings you nearer to your final salvation with Christ when you shall see Him face to face and be with Him in glory.
It is imperative that, as a Christian, you "know the time" in which you are living. In other words, you are to take a proper estimate of it - taking just views of the shortness and value of it. And when you do, you will realize that it is "high time" to "awake out of sleep" - to arouse from the sleep of inaction, carnal security, sloth, negligence, and stupid, fatal indifference to eternal things - leaving all lethargy behind.
In 1 Corinthians 15:34, the Apostle Paul again exhorted the believers in saying - "Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame."
The Corinthians had fallen asleep - spiritually speaking. They were inebriated with bad principles and notions and declined in the exercise of grace. Paul called them to - "wake up!" - to shake themselves out of that dead lethargy wherein sin had cast them.
Some did "not have the knowledge of God." They once were enlightened and had good morals, but left the good way - being corrupted by evil company.
The Corinthians had abundant opportunities to know the truth, yet they were intoxicated thru excessive carelessness...drowsy where they should have been on the watch...and gave themselves to sensual lusts and pleasures.
Could there be anything more shameful of the present-day Church than the sleepy ignorance of God and His Word and works - considering the advantages that they enjoy?
In closing, I leave you with an illustration from The Preacher's Homiletic Commentary - "The devil held a great anniversary, at which his angels and ministers were called together to report the result of their several missions. 'I let loose the wild beasts of the desert,' said one, 'on a caravan of Christians, and their bones are now bleaching on the sands.' 'What of that?' said the arch-fiend; 'their souls are all saved.' 'I drove the east wind,' said another, 'against a ship freighted with Christians, and they were drowned every one.' 'What of that?' replied he again; 'their souls were all saved.' Then stood up a third, and he said, 'For ten years I tried to get a single Christian asleep, and at last I succeeded, and left him so.' Then the devil shouted, and the night stars of hell sang for joy."
May God Bless His Word,
Connie
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. (Isaiah 54:17)
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