Ephesians 5:14
Awake, Arise, Understand
The "He" in this verse is God. Paul was relating what God had said.
I do not think this is a quote from the Bible; rather, it is Paul
speaking for God under the inspiration of the Spirit God.
Paul had been describing the condition of the lost, the duty of the
believer, and the urgency of the task.
1. Concerning the condition of the lost, Paul said:
Eph 5:12 …it is a shame even to speak of those
things which are done of them in secret.
2. We are most certainly back to that again. Concerning the duty of the
believers, Paul said:
Eph 5:11 …(we) have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove
them.
a. In case any wonder what the church—and so every believer—is
supposed to be doing about the world’s wicked behavior, this
verse clears it up.
b. We are not supposed to be condoning it, compromising, or
enduring it.
c. We are supposed to be reproving them; that is, correcting
them.
d. We should be loving, kind, gracious, but we should also be
clear, blunt, and plain.
e. Some like to say that we are supposed to be "like Christ."
(1) Friend, read the whole story.
(2) He was loving, kind, and gracious; but He was also clear,
blunt, and plain.
3. Concerning the urgency of the task, Paul gave us verse 14, our text.
Eph 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light.
Let us note three commands from this text.
I. God’s first command, "Awake!"
Eph 5:14 …Awake thou that sleepest…
A. Despite the sad condition of the world, Paul stated that the
condition of many within the church was not much better.
1. The church was asleep.
2. That is serious.
3. The unsaved are engaged in activities what are too sinful
to even speak of and the church is supposed to be their
REPROVER \\#11\\.
B. What is the problem with being asleep?
1. When one is asleep, he is unaware of what is happening
around him.
a. Some are lighter sleepers than others, but for most,
life continues while those asleep have no awareness
of it.
(1) A person asleep may not hear the rain.
(2) A person asleep may not hear the alarm clock.
(3) A person asleep may have no knowledge of his/her
mate rising or returning to bed.
(4) On a more dangerous note, a person asleep may not
hear the smoke detector or burglar breaking into
their home or bad weather approaching.
b. Jesus scolded the Jews for being oblivious to what was
going on around them.
Matthew 16:2 He answered and said unto them,
When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair
weather: for the sky is red.
3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to
day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye
hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky;
but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
(1) These people were lost and missing the obvious.
(a) Lost sleepers do not see their LOST
condition.
Luke 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus
with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as
other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of
all that I possess.
(b) Lost sleepers do not see Jesus as their only
Hope of salvation. (They may see Jesus as
a good man or as a prophet, even as God and
the Savior of the world, just not THEIR
Savior.)
(2) But Paul was speaking to the saved about being
asleep!
(a) They too are oblivious to what goes on
around them.
(b) They are blind to their own blindness!
Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich,
and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
(c) And thus they are incapable of rendering aid
to the lost and dying of this world.
c. To all the sleepers of the world, God shouts "AWAKE!"
2. When one is asleep, he is most likely in darkness.
a. Darkness is the preferred environment for sleep.
(1) Website (29 Secrets to a Good Night’s Sleep)
4. Sleep in complete darkness or as close as possible. If there is
even the tiniest bit of light in the room it can disrupt your
circadian rhythm and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin
and serotonin. There also should be as little light in the
bathroom as possible if you get up in the middle of the night.
Please, whatever you do, keep the light off when you go to the
bathroom at night. As soon as you turn on that light you will for
that night immediately cease all production of the important sleep
aid melatonin.
(2) Some actually believe there is a relationship between cancer
(especially breast cancer in women) and exposure to light
during the night hours!
b. Darkness is also the state that the Bible says the
sleepers are in, spiritually speaking.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that
light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil.
c. To be in a state of darkness means to be in a state of
sin.
(1) While this may be our NATURAL state, it is not a
NOURISHING state for us or the world.
(2) While this may be our NATURAL state, it is not a
NECESSARY state for us.
d. To those in darkness, God says, "AWAKE!"
3. When one is asleep, he is unaware of the hour.
a. Time has no meaning when one is asleep. You may sleep
for hours and awaken and think you have not slept at
all or you may sleep for only a few minutes and
awaken to think you have slept all night.
b. So those asleep have no idea just how late the hour
is!
Romans 13:11 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.
c. We are at crucial hours on God’s clock of events.
(Repent or be removed)
(1) I believe that these are crucial hours for the
church, America, and the world.
Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell,
and all the nations that forget God.
(2) The world has gone from sinning in secrecy to
parading it down Main Street to wanting to put
out the Light.
(3) Even if the rapture is at hand, I don’t want the
church to go out asleep!
C. The Solution to Sleep - AWAKE!
1. Sleep may be natural, but so is waking up!
2. The problem with some is they are not just sleeping.
a. They are in a sin-induced coma.
b. God called it the sleep of death, "arise from the
dead."
3. The sleep that is happening to many today is not natural.
It is being induced by Satan.
4. To those in the state of stupor, God commands "Awake!"
II. God’s second command, "Arise!"
Eph 5:14 …arise from the dead…
A. The commands so far then are wake up and get up.
B. These who have been asleep are still in their reclining
position.
C. The problem is that we are greatly limited in what we can do
when we are lying down.
1. We can pray while laying down. That is good and
absolutely essential. We should take time to pray.
Prayer should be the first thing we always do. Prayer is
the most important thing we can do; but at some point we
must see, prayer is not the ONLY thing to do. Christians
must put some feet to their prayers. God commands us,
"Arise!"
2. We can think, contemplate, reflect while laying down. I
like to think things out. I do not like to jump in and
then see how things will turn out. Thinking—especially
while you are praying—is good, but God commands us,
"Arise!"
3. We can cheer while laying down. That is good. Every
Christian needs his own personal cheering section. I
received a phone call yesterday that we very encouraging.
A lady called—where we were, my phone was not working—
but she left almost a three-minute message just
encouraging me. I need that. You probably do too, but
cheering will not win the battle. There is more to do,
God command us, "Arise!"
4. But in the end, all we do is watch while laying down. That
is no good. Christianity is not a spectator sport.
Christianity is a participating and a contact sport. We
are never command to watch what the devil does. We are
command to rebuke what the devil does. God commands us,
"Arise!"
D. Friend, nothing will get accomplished unless someone steps
forward and does the work.
1. More is our theme in 2019.
2. More worship. More devotion. More giving. And more
witnessing.
3. Can you give God more? Will you give God more?
4. God command us, "Arise!"
III. God commands us, "Understand!"
Eph 5:14 …and Christ shall give thee light..
A. Light is understanding. Note verse 17.
Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but
understanding what the will of the Lord is.
B. Because they are asleep, many do not understand.
1. They are not aware.
2. They are not active.
3. They do not understand what is happening.
C. What do we need to understand?
1. We need to understand that the devil has taken over this
world’s systems, and he is flying his colors.
a. Satan controls our education system.
(1) I don’t mean to be hurtful, but any school that
teaches evolution, alternate lifestyles, and a
godless American history, is being controlled by
the devil.
(2) I don’t mean to be hurtful, but any school that
has a drug problem, a steroid problem, a
bullying problem, a suicide problem, a sex and
pregnancy problem, is being controlled by the
devil.
(3) If what goes on in our schools today went on 50
years ago, parents would have stormed the
schools, fired its staff, and either pulled the
children or sat in every room of the school with
a gun in their lap ready to defend their kids.
(4) If it went on 100 years ago, they wouldn’t have
fired anyone, they would have shot them.
b. Satan controls our political, news, and entertainment
systems. There is little left in any of those that
is clean, wholesome, honest, trustworthy, or even
decent.
2. We need to understand that these are the last days.
a. Everything has happened as God said it would.
b. The Lord could return at any moment.
c. The last thing the believers want to be is asleep.
(1) Friend, if you are ever going to do anything for
Jesus… if you are ever going to be anything
for Jesus, this is the time.
(2) We must wake up, get up, and get with it.
(3) Get out of your comfort zones.
3. We need to understand that this world is not our home.
a. You say, "If I get serious about Jesus, I will lose
everything."
b. So what?
(1) We live in a country where people gave up
everything to secure it.
(2) We live under a flag where people gave their all
to defend it.
(3) We worship a Savior that gave His all to save us.
(4) Have our blessings come to mean so little to us
that we would not give anything to share it?
God says wake up, get up, and get with it. Awake, arise, understand.
How will you respond this morning?
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