WESLEY SERMONS #4

In this series, 60 of Wesley's sermons will be summarized into about 250 words. I'm using the work of Collins/Vickers as my source (for transcripts and order), but the summaries are mine (so any misrepresentations of Wesley may be attributed to me). 

AWAKE, THOU THAT SLEEPEST (Charles Wesley)

“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (Ephesians 5:14)

All people begin… and many people remain… in a state of sleep. They are asleep spiritually. They are totally unaware of their actual spiritual condition. Some, perhaps some in this room, are in the ‘deep sleep’ of thinking they are spiritually alive when they are actually dead unto God. They call themselves Christians, but Christ is not in them. Until they are awakened to their lost-ness, they remain lost.

So WAKE UP! If you think this sermon is for someone else, it’s probably for you! Sleeping is, in some ways, a terrible metaphor when we consider that such sleepers are in the devil’s arms, on the brink of the pit, and in the jaws of everlasting destruction. They will not find TRUE rest until they rest in Christ. If you’ve not been made new and received the Holy Spirit, you have no basis to hope (neither the lack of bad deeds nor the presence of good ones is sufficient). You simply must WAKE UP!

The good news is that whoever genuinely responds to God’s wake-up call will truly come alive! They’ll be no doubt about it because they’ll have the Spirit of Christ in them. The filling of the Spirit is the mark of every Christian, but I fear we’re just a collection of Pharisees and Sadducees! We must WAKE UP before it is too late!