ï» Back to title page "Wake Up before the Take Up!" (Romans 13:11-14) Text Verse: "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." (Romans 13:11) The text verse issues a wake up call from Heaven to the believer. It is vitally important for God's people to hear and to heed the Lord's wake up call. The Church has been in a sleeping condition for far too long. Instead of waking up, we have become content to hit the spiritual snooze button time and time again! *The state of being asleep is dangerous because it produces: 1. A Lack of Activity. (John 9:4) 2. A Lack of Awareness. (I Thessalonians 5:5-8) There is no doubt that God's people are living in the last days of Grace. There is much confusion and deception sweeping across the world as we know it. We do not need to be ignorant concerning the condition of these last days. No believer should desire to be found sleeping when the trumpet of God sounds.
Jesus Christ will appear and take up the people that belong to Him. We desperately need to wake up before the take up! *10 SIGNS OF THE LAST DAYS: 1. Slippage "NOW the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;" (I Timothy 4:1) "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (II Timothy 4:3-4) 2. Scandals "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." (II Timothy 3:13) 3. Sodomy "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."
(Luke 17:26-30) 4. Scholarship "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." (Daniel 12:4) 5. Skirmishes "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." (Matthew 24:6) 6. Shortages "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places." (Matthew 24:7) 7. Sicknesses "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." (Matthew 24:7) 8. Superficiality "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Matthew 24:12) *Superficiality: lack of depth in knowledge, reasoning, emotions, or character; shallow
9. Scoffers "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (II Peter 3:3-4) 10. Statehood of Israel "They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." (Psalm 83:4) "Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." (Isaiah 66:8) *The Scriptures are abundantly clear that Jesus Christ shall return. Sign after sign reveals that His coming is near. Time is running out for those who are not prepared. God's people need to wake up before the take up! I. PREPARATION! (Matthew 25:5-13) A. Their Condition "they all slumbered and slept" (Verse 5) B. The Calling
"at midnight there was a cry" (Verse 6) C. Their Carelessness "our lamps are gone out" (Verse 8) D. The Consequences "the door was shut" (Verse 10) "I know you not" (Verse 12) E. The Caution "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." (Matthew 25:13) II. PURIFICATION! "BEHOLD, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (I John 3:1-3) "If a Christian can by possibility be saved while he conforms to this world, at any rate it must be so as by fire. Such a bare
salvation is almost as much to be dreaded as desired. Reader, would you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a desponding death bed, and enter heaven as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? then be worldly; be mixed up with Mammonites, and refuse to go without the camp bearing Christ s reproach. But would you have a heaven below as well as a heaven above? Would you comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? Would you receive an abundant entrance into the joy of your Lord? Then come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Would you attain the full assurance of faith? you cannot gain it while you commune with sinners. Would you flame with vehement love? Your love will be damped by the drenchings of godless society. You cannot become a great Christian you may be a babe in grace, but you never can be a perfect man in Christ Jesus while you yield yourself to the worldly maxims and modes of business of men of the world. It is ill for an heir of heaven to be a great friend with the heirs of hell. It has a bad look when a courtier is too intimate with his king s enemies. Even small inconsistencies are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths destroy fine garments, and little frivolities and little rogueries will rob religion of a thousand joys. O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for your own comfort s sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one." (C. H. Spurgeon) III. PERSUASION! "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that
he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences." (II Corinthians 5:10-11) *God's people have the sober responsibility of persuading men concerning the truth of Jesus Christ. May God help us to take our responsibility seriously. We need to wake up before the take up! Evangelist Jeremiah Dixon