By Robert Murray McCheyne
IN THESE WORDS, Paul tells believers that it is waking time; and I would just tell you, dear friends, the same. It is high time for you to awake out of sleep. There is a condition among Christians which may be called sleeping; like the ten virgins, they slumber and sleep. Ah! I fear there are many sleeping Christians among you. It is waking time, believer. Do you know what time it is? You do not seem to know how near sunrise it is.
I will now show you what it is to be sleeping Christians. It is to be one that has come to Christ, yet has fallen asleep in sin. Like the church at Ephesus, they have left their first love: They do not retain that realization of Christ's preciousness-that freshness of believing. They have forgotten the fresh grasp of a Savior. So it is with some among yourselves. You may have seen your sins; yet you have lost that fresh conviction of sin you once felt so deeply. You do not see such a beauty in Jesus.
The more we look at Him, just the more we would look again. Earthly things pall upon the taste; but it is not so with things divine-they grow sweeter the more often you use them. So every time you look at Jesus, He grows more precious. The rose is sweet, yet it loses its smell; but the lovely Rose of Sharon grows sweeter and sweeter. Earthly apples lose their taste; but the apple tree does not so-"Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love." Sleepy Christians, you have lost taste for the apples. Oh! it is not time for you to sleep any longer. Believer, if you sleep on, you will soon doubt if ever you have come to Christ at all.
To awake out of sleep, then, is to see that divine things are realities. When you are half asleep, you see things imperfectly. Ah! you are not affected by divine realities. Now, what is it to awake out of sleep? To awake out of sleep is to see sin as it is-your heart as it is-Christ as He is-and the love of God in Christ Jesus. And you can see all this by looking to Calvary's Cross. O! it is an awful thing to look to the Cross and not be affected, nor feel conviction of sin-nor feel drawn to Christ. O! I do not know a more sad state than this. O! pray that you may be wide awake.
Dear friends, our life is like a river, and we are like a boat sailing down that river. We are drawing nearer and nearer to the shores of eternity. Some may have believed for forty years.
Ah! your salvation is nearer than when you first believed. Your redemption draws nigh-the redemption of your whole soul-your complete redemption. And the time is coming when we will get it-you will be saved, and then the last stone will be put on with shoutings of "Grace! grace! unto it." Then will the crown be put upon your heads, for you will be more than conquerors.
Dear friends, I do not know how far the day is spent. This is a dark, dark time; but the day is breaking-the shadows are fleeing away. The river Euphrates is drying up-that shows the day is breaking. The Jews, God's ancient people, are bringing in, and that shows the day is far spent.
And it is also high time for unconverted men to awake out of sleep. O, sinners! you are fast asleep, you are lying dormant-dead. O, sleepy souls, it is high time you should awake. Do you know what angels said when they went to and fro upon the earth? They told the Lord, "Behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest." Ali! you are fast asleep. God has given you the spirit of slumber. Do you not remember the message to Amos-"Woe to them that are at ease in Zion?"
And that is the case with many of you. When you come to this house, you are in a place where Jesus has called sleepy souls, and where He has been found of very many. O, sleeping souls; it is high time for you to awake. You are living in a dream. Every Christless man will find at last that he has been dreaming. Ah! the time is coming when you shall find that your following after gold is but a golden dream. And is there no pleasure in a dream? Who has not felt that there is pleasure even in dreams. But, ah! you must awake. Like a man condemned to die (and many of you are condemned already), he dreams of home, of his wife and children, of freedom and pleasure; but, ah! he awakes by the toll of the death-bell, and he finds that-behold it was but a dream!
