Don't Sleep/Watch and Be Sober

Introduction: The Exhortation to Watchfulness in Light of Christ's Return

0:03 Let us turn again this morning to the fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians, Paul's first letter to the infant church of the Thessalonians. In our study through this book, verse by verse and phrase by phrase, we come this morning to focus our attention particularly upon the sixth verse of the fifth chapter, but in order that we might understand that verse in relationship to what precedes and follows, I shall again this morning as last Lord's Day read the first eleven verses of the fifth chapter. Having introduced the subject of the Lord's return with reference to the state of dead loved ones, the apostle then takes up that theme in a more proper manner. It was brought in merely incidentally to the main subject, dead loved ones. What's happening? And he says, I don't want you to be ignorant, and so he tells them what will happen to them at the return of Christ.

1:09 Now that he's well into the subject of the return of Christ, he focuses upon that more properly and says, but concerning the times and the seasons, that is, as they relate to this great event of the second advent of Christ, ye have no need that ought be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh. As a thief in the night, for when they are saying, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall in no wise escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief, for ye are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness, so then, let us not sleep as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

2:30 For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore, exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do. Now, as we have mentioned repeatedly, and I trust by now, it is quite clear that we it has fixed itself in our minds, there is a marked contrast between the apostles' treatment of the second coming in the latter part of chapter 4 and in chapter 5. Not that he's talking about two different comings or two aspects of one coming. There is one second coming of Christ in power and in glory to usher in eternity and judgment. But in the former instance, he was addressing himself to an area of ignorance. I would not have

3:33 you ignorant, brethren. And so the bulk of his writing focuses upon the giving of information. However, in chapter 5, he is addressing himself to an area of understanding. He says in verse 2, you know perfectly well what you need to know concerning the times and seasons, namely that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. So, his primary concern is that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. So, his primary concern is not the impartation of information, but rather to stir them up by exhortation to live in the light of what they know. And as we studied this passage last week, we saw that it is a specimen passage. It's like many in the New Testament, where there is a definite structure to the exhortation of the apostle. Not only does God exhort with authority, because he

4:28 is our God, but also because he is our God, because he is our God, because he is our God, but he exhorts with a very definite pattern that is unique to the scriptures. And we looked at that pattern of exhortation. He reminded them, first of all, of what they knew by divine revelation. You know this perfectly. Then in verses 4 and 5, he tells them what they were by the grace of God. You are the sons of the light. You are the sons of the day. And not until he reminds them of what they know and what they are, does he seek to exhort them concerning.

4:59 So therefore, in the light of what you know and what you are, this is what you ought to be. And then he rounds it all out by supporting it with these great motivations, which are rooted in the work of Christ's redemption on our behalf. And I submit that that is the way in which exhortation comes to us, and in which we must regard it. And in so doing, we saw the proper place of knowledge.

5:29 Knowledge in the Christian life never is knowledge given as an end in itself. He didn't say, you know this perfectly, therefore let the case rest. But since you know this, this is what you ought to be. Knowledge is not an end in itself, but I would state with equal emphasis the apostle acknowledges that knowledge is basic to and essential to proper experience.

5:53 He doesn't deal with their experience until he reminds them of what they know. And if at any point, We ever looked upon knowledge as an end in itself, or despised knowledge as the means to the end of maturity, we have an unbiblical perspective for whatever reason we adopt one view or the other, it is unbiblical and it will ultimately result in our own spiritual detriment. Then, we looked at the relationship of what we are to what we should be before he tells them this is what you ought to be, he says, this is what you are, you are a son and a daughter of the light, now be that. You are dead with Christ, but today you are dead with your Lord.

The Core Exhortation: Don't Sleep, Watch, and Be Sober

6:29 be that an experience you are alive with Christ be that an experience that's the pattern throughout all of scripture not do this in order that you might be but since you are this is what you ought to be and then in the third place we saw the relationship of exhortation to distinctive redemptive privileges the apostle never exhorts them to areas of conduct without reminding them that this is part and parcel of their very purpose for which they were purchased he died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him so much then for the structure of this exhortation and its lessons now we come this morning to the exhortation proper and if I were giving a title as I'm poor at this as most of you know it would be this very lengthy and academic sounding title simple because I don't know how to come up with any better what effect should the doctrine of the suddenness of Christ be on you return have upon the children of God do you believe and know what they believed and knew that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night that is with suddenness do you subscribe to that as an article of your faith you say yes I do all right then my question to you is what effect should that knowledge have upon you God didn't want you just to know it for the sake of knowing it he wants you to know it for the sake of what it ought to do for you now what should it do for you well the apostle tell

7:57 us here and he begins in verse six by stating it this way so then in the light of what you know and in the light of what you are so then Mr. Starrett asked us this morning so what all right we know this so what all right so you know the Lord will come as a thief in the night so what all right here it is so then so then now you have first of all the negative let us not sleep as do the rest then the positive but let us watch and be sober then he gives us some reasons for they that sleep sleep in the night they that are drunken are drunken in the night but let us since we are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith in love and foreign helmet the hope of salvation the essence of his exhortation is this negatively let us not sleep positively let us be watchful let us be sober let us be sober let us be sober let us be sober let us be sober let us be sober let us be armed for battle those are the three positives sobriety watchfulness and preparedness but none of those will be effectual unless we come to grips with the first thing he introduces namely this negative let us not sleep and this is where we will focus our attention this morning though we

Defining Spiritual Sleep: Insensitivity to Reality

9:21 will touch briefly on the other what did he mean when he said in the light of the suddenness of the Lord's return we will not sleep we will not sleep we will not sleep we will not sleep we will not sleep we should not sleep what is an adequate definition of the apostles use of the word sleep well as with so much in scripture natural functions are borrowed from the natural world and are given significance in the spiritual life now what is sleep naturally don't try to understand what he means in a spiritual sense until you understand what it is in the natural sense what is sleep well mr. Webster did not sleep he did not sleep he did not sleep he did not sleep he did not sleep he did not sleep he did not sleep he did not sleep he did not sleep he did not sleep he did not sleep a natural and regularly recurring condition of rest for the body and the mind during which there is little or no conscious thought sensation or movement now some of us who are on the men's retreat the other night we would like to take exception to this because there was some movement we had both movement of the larynx with one of the men in our room quite profusely through the night and someone else actually set up ahead in the middle of the night and began to jabber in his sleep but generally speaking though there is such a thing as snoring and sleepwalking and sleep

10:43 talking mr. Webster's definition is for the most part an accurate one it's a condition of rest for the body and mind during which there is little or no conscious thought sensation no contact with the world of reality about if a person is in the middle of the night and he is in the middle of the night and he is in the middle of the night and he is in the middle of the night and he is in the middle of the night and he is in the middle of the night and he is in the middle of the night and he is in the middle of the night sound asleep you could put the most succulent steak under his nose and he goes right on sleeping see no contact with the sentient world or movement sleep is that mysterious ability to retreat from the world about us these senses are rendered insensible either to opportunity or to danger or impending doom it's a true story that a certain sailor was waiting for a train somewhere in England and he missed his train and so while he was waiting for the other one he found the nearest wall that he could climb up on and go to sleep well unknown to him the other side of that wall was a drop of some 40 to 50 feet and so he fell asleep not knowing that he was just inches away from possible death and he happened to turn over in his sleep and he woke up halfway down and instinctively just reached out he was able to clutch hold of some ivy and there he held himself for some 40 minutes while he cried for help and was rescued well you see he was able to drift off into the land of Nod with no apprehensions and while he was sleeping though he was six inches

12:09 from terrible tragedy and possible death he was utterly oblivious to it sleep is that peculiar state in which we are rendered insensitive to danger we can to be more specific we can enter into that state and utterly forget the past while living a man's past may loom up before him and haunt his conscience and drive him to despair but if he falls asleep suddenly his past no longer troubles him not only that he's insensitive to the present he may have been up till 12 o'clock scratching his head to figure out how in the world can you make $300 in the checking account cover $700 worth of bills and finally just knowing it's even with the new math you can't do that and he just in despair just pushes it all aside and he gets in his bed and after tossing and turning for a little bit he falls asleep it's suddenly it's as though he had no unpaid bills no mathematical problem he's able to retreat not only from the past but from the present insensitive to the present and also it's a state in which there's no apprehension of the future here's a man in death row and he knows that tomorrow he's going to die and he finds it difficult to get off to sleep that night but when he drifts over that line into sleep completely insensitive no apprehension that the next morning at 8 o'clock there's going to be a knock and he'll be carried off to death

13:37 and in the fourth place forget the past insensitive to the present no apprehension of the future it's a state from which we don't like to be aroused it's a comfortable state I never saw anybody who was awakened other than you know just waking up naturally but who was rudely awakened whoever just bounded out of bed and started singing oh what a beautiful morning oh what a beautiful day and thanked God the person who awakened him I remember having a roommate in Bible school that had a terrible job getting out of bed in the morning maybe the Lord was preparing me for my experience with my own dear wife who has to sort of tunnel up through but this fellow was supposed to ring the bells that woke everybody else up so he'd tell me he said now you be sure to wake me up in the morning well it was the most terrible thing to wake that fellow if I'd start to shake him he didn't want any activity there are times when I actually had to take a wet washcloth and hold it over his head and threaten to squeeze it he didn't like it there's something about that state it's a comfortable state to be in we don't want to come out of it now those are all things that are characteristic of sleep on the natural level and I submit to you that it is those precise characteristics that the scripture is bringing into focus when it uses sleep in terms of a spiritual condition notice what he says the state of all mankind

15:05 apart from the grace of God is this let us not sleep as do the rest the bible uses many figures to describe the condition of unconverted men in Ephesians 2 it uses the figure of death you hath he made alive who were dead as far as any living contact with God as far as any spiritual life within the bible says we are dead D-E-A-D dead dead dead , absence of life but the bible uses the figure in some places of blind in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds here the apostle says those people described in verse 3 who are assuring themselves of peace and safety but sudden destruction shall come upon them they are characterized by this state of sleep let us not sleep as do the rest and what is spiritual sleep for unconverted men and women whether they are out of bed whether they are out of bed whether they are out there in the raw paganism of 20th century American like or whether they are seated right here looking up at me eyes sparkling hair in place tie and coat and dress everything but a sleep spiritually what are those characteristics the very things I gave you forgetfulness of the past those in the state of spiritual slumber

16:32 constantly seeking to push off the nagging voice of conscience forget the past forget the past forget the past forget the present the past and the present always will Więc those times those times when we have knowingly and openly violated God's holy law when we have stood as it were with clenched fists and reared back and said I will not have this man to reign over me there is that state of insensitivity to the present here sitting in this very building in the midst of the people of God lifting up their voices and hearts in worship to a true God a living God you are utterly insensitive all of this There hasn't been one dribble of any true affection for this God of whom we've been singing. Perhaps you've been able to mouth the words. Exalt the Lord, His praise proclaim. You might have even done it with good volume.

17:24 But there's been no true exaltation of God within the real confines of your heart. You're in a state of sleep. Insensitive, you see, to that world of spiritual reality. Insensitive to Christ, His glory, His salvation, His praise.

17:42 Insensitive to your own corruption and sin. When I prayed this morning and confessed the sin of failing to love God with the whole heart, it's as though you were asleep. Oh, you heard my words, but your heart didn't enter into that and say, Oh God, oh God, forgive me, I haven't loved you. You see, it's just as though you were sleeping.

18:01 You may as well have been asleep. You were insensitive to the spiritual activity of the body. The body of God's people as we corporately praised Him. As we corporately confessed our sins to Him.

18:13 Were you conscious of being a real life part of that? Or were you insensitive of that? That's the state of sleep. Insensitive to the world of reality about us.

18:24 Then no apprehensions of the future. This is one of the saddest things of those in a state of spiritual slumber. The scripture says, He that believeth not the wrath of God, abideth right now upon him. And just as surely as my hand rests above this microphone, and as the signal is sent to the brain to drop the hand, I can drop it upon it.

18:48 So the canopy of divine wrath rests over the head of unconverted men. But no apprehension.

18:57 You can go right through life whistling Dixie with the wrath of a holy God hanging over your head. Causes no trembling. No thought of fear. No dread.

19:08 What's the explanation? You're asleep. Like that sailor on the wall. Six inches away from destruction.

19:14 Snoring away. Insensitive to his impending danger.

19:20 And then in the fourth place, you don't want to be aroused from it. Oh, you'd love to be told nice, smooth, sweet little things about sea, God, and the trees, and the birds. You don't want to be told about your sin. You don't want to be aroused.

19:34 You don't want your conscience to be probed. You feel uncomfortable when the preacher looks you in the eye and says, Did you enter into the praise? Prayer of confession. You don't want to be like that roommate, you see.

19:46 Leave me alone. Leave me alone. It's uncomfortable. That's the state of all men by nature.

Believers and Spiritual Drowsiness

19:54 And the apostle says, Let us not be guilty of falling into the realm of sleep as do the rest. But wait a minute. I thought sleep was characteristic of the unconverted. Why does he have to exhort believers not to sleep?

20:10 Well, the same reason he has to exhort believers. Not to be guilty of sins of uncleanness, of jealousy, and of pride. For though the work of God in regeneration radically and basically delivers us out of the realm of spiritual death and spiritual sleep and indifference to God's precepts, it does not perfectly deliver us. The remains of corruption are yet within.

20:37 And just as a true believer is not given over to adultery, but may fall to the sin of adultery, just as a true believer is not given over to murder, but may fall to murderous thoughts and attitudes and even to acts as did David,

20:57 so a child of God is not given over to spiritual slumber, but he may fall into realms of spiritual slumber to his own peril. And so the apostle then exhorts us, us, therefore let us not sleep as do the rest.

21:20 What then do we conclude from this negative exhortation?

21:25 We're warranted to conclude this. In the light of the suddenness of our Lord's return, we must not allow anything to bring us into the state of spiritual slumber, where we get out of touch with the world of spiritual reality. Nothing is your friend which makes God and Christ and heaven and hell less real to you. Nothing is your friend that makes sin appear less deadly than it is.

21:58 Nothing is your friend that makes eternity blurred in your vision, that makes living day by day in the expectation of the return of Christ less a reality, no matter in what way it disguises itself. Anything that presents itself to you, that has the effect of bringing you into this state of slumber, where the world of spiritual reality with its blessings and its dangers, with its glories and its threats, anything that makes that less real is your enemy. It's your enemy.

22:36 And we must treat it as such.

22:41 Have any of you ever fallen asleep at the wheel of a car? I never have. I've talked with people who have, and almost invariably they say, well, all I remember is that I was a bit drowsy, and I thought I'd just make it a few more miles to the next station. You see, sleep does not overtake a man like this, unless he has some physical ailment.

22:59 First of all, you move from that state of conscious alertness to getting a bit heavy-headed and drowsy. See?

23:11 Isn't that where it happens? And the only person who doesn't fall asleep at the wheel is the one who's determined, the moment I'm conscious of drowsiness, I'm going to stop. I won't trust myself. It's the person who says, well, I can handle drowsiness, that ends up asleep at the wheel.

23:25 And it's the child of God that says, oh, I'll never sleep. I'll never go back to that state of total insensitivity to the world of spiritual reality, that I can afford to get drowsy. That's the person who ends up asleep at the wheel. When he says, therefore let us not sleep, he's warning against the first symptoms of sleep, which is drowsiness.

23:54 Just drowsiness. That's the beginnings of that retreat from the world of reality.

24:01 This is brought out so clearly in Pilgrim's Progress. Hopeful and Pilgrim are talking with the shepherds. And one of the last exhortations the shepherds give them is this, beware of the enchanted ground. Well, a little bit later they come into a place where hope will begin.

24:20 You can almost, I can't read that passage without yawning. Now, don't you all start yawning if I do. Maybe that's why I left it in my valise at the back thing. I was going to read from it.

24:30 But he says, in essence, you know, we're tired, we've been pressing on here, and sleep is so refreshing. Can't we just take a little bit of rest? And then Christian says, ah, don't you remember the words of the shepherds? Beware of the enchanted ground.

24:47 And then they go on, he goes on to say, in response to this, hopeful says, well, thank you, brother. Now I see that two are better than one. I needed your exhortation, lest sleeping. I had, I had run the possibility.

25:03 In other words, he looked upon this matter of spiritual slumber as that which would lead to death. Therefore, drowsiness itself had to be resisted as the first step of entering into the state of sleep. It's interesting, isn't it, that with respect to the doctrine of the return of Christ, as found in Matthew 24 and 25, it's this particular thing that's brought into focus. What was the problem?

25:30 Well, with the virgins,

25:33 they slept. And while a man's sleeping, he can't be making preparations for anything.

25:40 So while they slept, no preparation was made. And when the bridegroom came, they were found unprepared. And what was the issue? They were shut out.

25:51 And then the Lord goes on to say, watch therefore. See, it's in that same context that he warns against sleep because in the state of sleep, one is not making preparations for anything. And when one enters into that state, that spiritual slumber, he is not making the necessary preparations for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Defining Spiritual Watching: Conscious Preparedness

26:14 Now that's the negative. Let us not sleep. Now let's touch briefly upon the positive. But let us watch and be sober.

26:25 Now this word watch is obviously the antonym, the opposite of sleeping. It's used no less than ten times in the New Testament with direct reference to the return of Christ. In other words, the peculiar duty that attaches itself to the doctrine of the suddenness of the return of Christ is watchfulness. Just as the peculiar duty one believer to another is what? Love one another.

26:53 So, the peculiar duty attaching itself to this doctrine of the return of Christ is watchfulness. Other things are mentioned. Industriousness. Blessed is the man whom when his Lord comes he shall find so doing. Purifying ourselves. Every man that hath this hope. These are all mentioned, but the focus of emphasis in the New Testament as it comes to the Christian duty most necessary in the light of the suddenness of the return of Christ. It's the duty of being watchful. A typical passage is the 13th of Mark verses 36 and 37. I'll use this as a specimen passage. Mark chapter 13 verses 36 and 37. Perhaps we could back up to verse 33.

27:47 Take heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is. It is when a man sojourning in another country, having left his house and given authority to his servants, to each one his work, commanded also the porter to watch. Watch therefore, for ye know not when the Lord of the house cometh, whether it even or midnight or cockcrowing or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, watch.

28:17 Four times in that short passage. Watch, watch, watch. And it's the opposite of sleeping. Well then, what is a biblical definition of watching? Well, it doesn't mean that you sit back, fold your hands and look up into the sky waiting for the heavens to part as a scroll and for the Lord to come. That's how some have interpreted this and so they've put their white gowns on and they've gone off to watch. No, no, that isn't what it means. It's the opposite of sleeping. That's how you come to your definition. It's used in contrast with sleeping. So watching then means to be what? Fully awake, but not only fully awake, but consciously employing all of our faculties in spiritual preparedness.

29:00 Watching is seen in the analogy of the soldier at his post. Here's a man who's pulled watch over there in some, around some rice patty in Vietnam.

29:12 In the black of the night, from two until six in the morning, he's to watch. What's that mean? Just keep himself fully awake? No, he could be fully awake playing solitaire.

29:22 He's not watching. He could be fully awake writing a letter to his sweetheart. That's not watching. He's to be fully awake and then all of his faculties are to be consciously and intently focused upon looking for the first sign of any irregularity out there in the rustling in the rice patty. Any unusual noise. Every faculty focused consciously, deliberately, wholeheartedly watching, peering into the night. That's the figure. It's the picture of a mariner on the deck of his ship watching, looking for any obstacles, any icebergs, looking for any rising of clouds that might indicate a squall or a storm. It's the picture of a wife waiting for the return of a husband, making sure that everything is prepared in the home to his liking, constantly looking out the window as she's busy with her hands preparing the home and caring for the household. He wouldn't appreciate it if she let all the dishes stack up and let the kids go unwashed and unfed and he comes home to a mess and he says, what have you been doing? She says, well dear, I love you so much I've been sitting at the picture window watching for you. No, he wouldn't like that. He wouldn't appreciate

30:38 that. No, she's going to be busy doing what should be done to make the house ready and herself and the family and then casting a glance in the midst of those duties out the window at the first sign of his approach and then she drops everything and receives him into a situation where as his eye goes around the home and the children it's obvious that she's been watching and preparing for his return. That's the picture in scripture. The analogy of the soldier, the analogy of the mariner, the picture of the wife.

The Nature of Watchfulness: Alertness to Spiritual Conflict

31:17 Our Lord himself in his own experience gave a very clear example of what it means to watch as opposed to sleeping. He said in the 26th of Matthew as he entered into Gethsemane, watch with me one hour. Then what did he do? It says he went forward a stone's throw and fell upon his face and he began to pray. What did he do?

31:39 He entered into vital contact with the world of spiritual reality. The conflict of heaven and hell was coming to its peak as the Lord Jesus is about to give himself up a ransom for many. And he comes back to the disciples and says what could you not watch with me one hour? Here the Lord was just a few yards away in such vital, real contact with spiritual forces that he literally wrestles until he sweats. A few yards away.

32:14 Down to sleep. There's the contrast. Our Lord fully awake, fully employing all his faculties in a valid spiritual conflict. Disciples utterly out of touch with that world of spirituality sleeping. Now God says let us not sleep but let us watch. Let us be alert. Let us be fully awake, consciously employing all of our faculties in spiritual preparedness. To be more specific, we must be watchful concerning the enticements and influences of the world upon our hearts.

32:56 What is the attitude of the world with respect to the Lord's return? 2 Peter 3 tells us. All things continue as from the beginning of time. Therefore, as we read in Matthew 24, they will be eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. If the course of history is just the same, then human experience ought to be just the same. You alarmists that talk about a sudden intrusion from heaven, a cataclysmic event, the return of Christ. You're just a bunch of alarmists.

33:30 Everything's going to go on. Sure, we've got our problems. They had their problems a hundred years ago. They had their problems a thousand years ago. Everything's going to work all right. That spirit is a spirit to which you and I are not immune unless we are watching for its first approach to us before we know it. It will seize upon us and hold us in its grip until there will be in our experience literally days and weeks that we don't consciously think one thought about the return of Christ and the suddenness of it. And I tell you, I've been shocked at times when God's uncovered that thing in my own heart.

34:10 I've asked myself, how long has it been since you have consciously thought, and it's come out in your prayer, it's come out in your thinking as you've been driving, or doing this or that, the Lord Jesus will come suddenly. And I've been shocked at times to see that days could pass. How about yourself?

34:34 You see, when you begin to adopt that philosophy, well, everything's just going to go on as it has, and my kids will grow up, and they'll have their kids, and they'll die, and it's all... You imbibe that spirit of the world and you will cease to know what it is to engage in spiritual preparedness.

34:52 God has commanded us, let us not sleep, but let us watch and be sober. We must watch against the enticements and influences of the world pressing us into its thinking. We must watch against the stratagems of the devil. For Scripture tells us that prior to the return of our Lord, there will be an increasing manifestation of demonic, satanic activity, not only in a letting loose of a spirit of lawlessness upon the hearts of men, but in a deviation from the truth of God. And the Apostle Paul said to the Ephesian elders, watch ye! Watch ye! After my departure false teachers will come. Watch ye!

35:38 When the people who sit where you sit begin to slumber and say, I can't be bothered to exercise my mind in theological niceties. I just want to love the Lord and serve Him. That's all that matters. No, it isn't all that matters. You'll betray unborn generations.

36:00 Unless you cultivate a keen awareness what is truth, what is half-truth, what is error, we must watch, be alert, and the first approach of it, call it what it is. For the Lord Jesus, in commending the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2 said, I commend you for this. You have tried them that say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars. He said, I love this characteristic you have of preciseness in your theology, of carefulness to preserve the truth. Now that's not enough.

36:32 He said, I have somewhat against you, that you've declined from your first love, but never relinquish this. You do have this deep hatred for evil teaching as well as evil men. Don't sleep. Your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. So what does the apostle say? Be sober. Be alert. And then we must watch against the deception and the actings of our own indwelling sin and corruption. The person who does not consciously distrust his own heart is the person who's being betrayed by it constantly. Scripture says whoso trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Do you consciously say, oh God, don't leave me at the mercy of my own heart. Make me sensitive to the voice of your spirit in the word. Lord, bring

37:37 me up short whenever I think thoughts that are natural to me, but contrary to your truth. Let us watch. Now let me ask you, do you think watching is pleasant business? Some of you men have been in the service and had to pull that watch in the middle of the night.

37:55 Isn't that pleasant business? Everything in you cried out for sleep. Everything. Everything cried out for sleep.

38:01 Any of you who've been driving and drowsiness starts to overtake you, is it pleasant? I'd rather wrestle a bear than wrestle that tendency to want to sleep. I guess it's just plain Adamic pride that I determined I'd get through college and be able to tell my children I never fell asleep in the class. I came pretty close a few times, but I never did. There are times when it would have been so easy. Especially that class right after lunch. And it met in a room that was over top of the boilers. And it was always about 90 degrees in there. And down in South Carolina in the spring, with the azaleas blooming and all the rest, it was just agonizing. It had just been so easy. Isn't it hard to fight sleep? Isn't it hard? Sure.

Defining Sobriety: Un-intoxicated Judgment

38:44 That's why God says, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. One of the duties of a soldier is to watch. Let us not sleep, but let us watch and everything that's necessary to watch. We must watch and, He says, be sober. Let me touch on this just briefly. Let us watch and be sober. That is, be calm and collected in your spirit. All your faculties of mind and spirit held in balance.

39:08 You're allowing nothing to intoxicate you. For this word sober is used as the antonym of intoxication. Notice in verse 7, they that sleep, sleep in the night and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. What's the answer to sleeping?

39:22 Watching. What's the answer to drunkenness? Sobriety. He's saying you must allow nothing to intoxicate the mind or the judgment.

39:32 Suppose you saw a man who had presented to him solid gold bricks and cheap play sand and he chose the sand in place of the bricks. You'd say he's demented. His powers of judgment have been suspended. Something wrong.

How to Maintain Watchfulness and Sobriety

39:47 Right. Now he says, don't let that happen to you. That you find yourself choosing the sand of temporal and sensual pleasure in place of the gold of preparedness for the return of Christ. Be watchful and be sober. Now, how is this to be done? It's all right and well for you, Paul, to tell us, be watchful, be sober, but how do you do it? May I suggest two very simple things? Number one, there must be the use of every legitimate means to keep alert and sober.

40:27 You're driving down the highway as I've done many times. You just get that first little thing of drowsiness. Turn that wind vent in. Let that good fresh air come and smack you in the face.

40:37 Many a time when I'm studying up in my own study, I just stand up, walk around, pick up my dumb bells and work them a little bit, slap my face, get a good drink of water, put some cold water on my face, and it does the trick. That's a legitimate means. I think it's sinful for me to pray, Lord, help me keep awake if I got some good cold water down the stairs.

40:56 May not look quite so spiritual,

41:01 but it works. What's true in the physical is true in the spiritual. When God says, let us not sleep, He's saying, use every means to keep awake. Every means.

41:11 What are some of those means? Well, you know them. Being into the assembly of the people of God whenever possible, who are awake spiritually, whose perspective is that of eternity and of the return of Christ. Breathe some of the clear air of the presence of God in the midst of His people. The exhortation of our brethren, Hebrews 3 and verse 13. Exhort one another, lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. How often does someone say, well, I never go anywhere, I have to drive late, I take someone with me, so I don't fall asleep. Well, you better pick up some friends along the way in your Christian pilgrimage who can be there to wrap you in the ribs when you start to nod. We need one

42:01 another. Hey, you're beginning to look glassy-eyed at the wheel. Are you alright? Well, thanks. Yeah, I was getting a bit dopey. Thanks.

42:09 We need one another. Have you got some Christian friends who know how to wrap you in the ribs in love when you begin to nod? And they see you begin to get a little insensitive to the world of spiritual reality. You begin to get a little bit out of touch with the reality of the conflict with sin and the world and the flesh and the devil.

42:28 You begin to enter the land of nod. Do you have a hopeful or a Christian walking with you? Give you one in the ribs. Bring you out of it.

42:40 Two are better than one, Scripture says. You ask God to give you such a companion. You husbands and wives, this is one of your ministry to one another. Not to flatter each other into sleep. You have to be rib wrappers.

42:59 Now you say that's a little coarse. Well, you won't forget it and I hope you do it. In love. In love.

43:07 Not pleasant when you're starting to go off to sleep to get wrapped in the ribs. But it's safe. It's safe. That's the first thing. Use every legitimate means to keep alert and sober. The means of grace put at our disposal. Secondly, there must be a resolute refusal of anything which stupefies and causes slumber. Now here's where the most innocent thing can be our greatest enemy. What is it that makes God and heaven and sin and Christ and the world of spiritual reality less real to you? What is it? What is it? Is it your newspaper?

43:41 Then get rid of it. Is it your TV? Get rid of it. I don't care what it is. And the great enemy of the true child of God is not that which has stamped on it evil, sin, unclean. It's that which comes to us saying innocent. And you welcome it right into your house and lo and behold it's got a pocket of sleeping pills that it's putting in your food all the time. And before you know it, you're in a state of slumber.

44:11 You say, well that's pretty radical treatment. Sure it is. Sure it is. Sure it is. But we must, for our Lord himself warned his own disciples, he said beware in the light of my return lest your hearts be overturned, charged with surfeiting, banqueting and the cares of this life. Just the normal concerns of life, he said, can put you in a state of slumber and that day come upon you unawares. Unawares. So my suggestion in answer to the question, how do you keep from sleep? How do you keep watchful and sober? Use every legitimate means that God has put at our disposal and refuse the influence of all that would act to the contrary. And I close with the question in what spirit should we do this? Well of course it ought to be a spirit of dependence upon the Lord, acknowledging to him, oh God, left to myself I just want to sleep. I don't want

The Spirit of Watchfulness: Necessity of Life and Death

45:09 to be sober. Tell him that. He knows it. And you know it. Call upon him for grace. But then, and this is what I want to emphasize, it must be in a spirit that recognizes the absolute necessity of being watchful and sober. What is the issue at stake if I'm not watchful and sober? I submit to you, scripture teaches it's an issue of life and death.

45:35 In the 24th chapter of Matthew, beginning with verse 42, Jesus said, the man who delays, says the Lord, delays his coming, and acts indifferently and enters a state of spiritual slumber. It says when the master of the house returns, he'll appoint his portion with the hypocrites. Those virgins that slept and were not prepared were shut out of the kingdom.

45:59 Beloved, I want to say in tones that I trust will not forget, and this has been my prayer, Lord, bear down upon us this morning the awesome importance of this duty. This is a matter of life and death. That's so you're sitting at his post in Vietnam, the thing that'll make him shake off sleep at any cost as long as he remembers this. The moment I drift off into sleep, it may mean that a knife will be slipped between my shoulder blades.

46:30 It may mean death. The thing that kept me all those years in the itinerant ministry from ever toying with falling asleep at the wheel is I just used to talk to myself and say, Buster, you could kill yourself if you play with drowsiness. I refuse to do it. It's a matter of life and death.

46:47 And child of God, you and I must recognize that this is a matter of spiritual life and death. You say, but Pastor, you preach to us that all whom the Lord has saved in his grace, he's preserving and will keep for his kingdom. Yes, and part of that work of preserving comes to light in our persevering in a course of watchfulness. His grace does not bypass our watching and our keeping so sober, but it comes to light as we do watch and as we are sober.

47:23 So, child of God, fear spiritual drowsiness like death itself. And there I refer you back to our good friends, Christian and hopeful. He looked upon it as a matter of life and death. Lest sleeping, I should have run the risk of death.

Conclusion: The Worth of Watchfulness

47:42 So you believe that Christ return will be sudden. You believe that. It's a tenet of your faith. What effect should it have upon your life?

47:51 Here it is. Negative? Let us not sleep. Let us not sleep?

47:56 But, positive? Let us be watchful. Let us be sober. And then, God willing, next week we should take on the consideration.

48:06 Let us be prepared for active conflict with the enemy. Putting on the armor at our disposal and then fortify ourselves with the reasons that he gives. We don't want to conform to the world's sleepiness and drunkenness. That's for children of the night.

48:23 We want to be what we are. Children of the day. Awake and sober and then, in the light of what we've been purchased for and in the light of what we've been destined for, anything less than this is inconsistent. And so then he fortifies the people of God with this tremendous motivation.

48:42 Are you awake this morning? Oh yes, your eyes are open. A few of you have been fighting drowsiness even as I've been preaching. It's been a very it's always a very humbling thing.

48:51 But this morning, this morning it's also been, it's been good for me to see, because I've been seeing before my own eyes what I've been preaching about. You see, nobody's been sleeping. But I've seen some of you fighting drowsiness. Well, I'm glad you fought it. It hadn't been easy, has it? It's been hard.

49:06 Now God says, you do that spiritually.

49:10 It's not going to be easy. But you must watch and be sober. And then in that day when the voice of the archangel shouts, the trump of God sounds, and our returning Lord summons us to himself. The words I hope aren't trite.

49:30 It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. One glimpse of his dear face, all sorrow will erase. It will be worth it all. But woe, woe be to the one who at his return is found sleeping.

49:51 Let us pray.