Wake Up and Get Dressed
Notes
Transcript
Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Let us walk with decency, as in the daytime: not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.
I do not always title my messages but I have a title today if you are taking notes.
Wake up and Get Dressed
Wake up and Get Dressed
Wake Up
Wake Up
There comes a time when we must wake up. We have to snap out of it. There are times when for one reason or another we have become dull, hard of hearing, lost in our own minds, and we must wake up. That is what the Bible is saying here.
Wake Up. Snap out of it. Get it together.
The time for sleeping is over. The time for work is before us.
When we slumber we fall into the deeds or the work of the flesh
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,
idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,
envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
This is what sleeping causes. It causes and leads to a life that a believer does not want to live.
Let us also remember that the call to wake up is to believers.
We can fall asleep or be dull for all sorts of reasons.
Not only do we fall asleep but we make it a home. We move into something like pitching a tent.
We for a variety of reasons fall asleep and then make that place home. As humans we have this ability to make a place home even when it is bad.
I want us to look at a few reasons we fall asleep and pitch a tent. There can be other reasons too but because we only have 30 minutes let’s look at these.
Disappointment
Disappointment
We were expecting something. We were hoping for something and fell through.
Maybe we put our trust in the wrong person and they let us down. They didn’t come through. They let us down. Whatever they did it caused disappointment. We then took that disappointment and transferred it to God.
We said, “God they were your person and they let me down, so you let me down.”
This happens all the time and it is ok to be disappointed but we cannot stay there.
We have to forgive them, and then we have to refocus on God. We have to remember that people are fallible. They are not perfect. Sometimes people reflect God wrongly. We cannot put our hope in people like we do in God.
I cannot tell you how many times I know I have not reflected God rightly.
We can also be disappointed because we believed for something. We had hope. We had faith. We believed 100% that God could do something. We poured out our faith and hope. We believed for healing, restoration, a miracle, something and it did not happen. It was not a matter of faith or trust in God and yet we did not receive.
We get confused because Jesus says, ask and you will receive so why did I not receive?
This happens and we become disappointed. When God does not answer our prayers the way we desire we fall into disappointment.
Jesus says,
and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”
These words by Jesus were said when his cousin John the Baptist was questioning. John was in prison waiting to be executed.
John saw the dove descending on Jesus. John knew the miracles. John had given himself to the promises of God. He devoted his life to preparing the way of the Messiah and yet he had questions. He was facing disappointment.
Jesus says don’t be disappointed, don’t be offended because I am not working the way you want.
Jesus says to us, trust me in your disappointment. Have faith even now.
When we can get to a place of faith in midst of not understanding God or being let down by people we wake up.
Shame and Regret
Shame and Regret
We can fall asleep and become dull because we have shame and regret.
We did something we should not have, we didn’t do something we should have, or something happened to us, and we have shame and regret. The devil and our flesh then convince us that we should live in shame and regret.
We feel like God is mad at us and wants nothing to do with us so we keep Him at a distance. Or maybe we just assume He will be mad at us so we strike first.
When we live in shame and regret and keep God at a distance we start to become dull and asleep. We stop fellowshipping with other Christians because we think they know our issue.
We stop reading our Bibles because we feel conviction.
We don’t listen to worship because we cannot say, “All to thee I surrender.”
We don’t pray because we know what is in our hearts. We know what happened.
We have quenched the Holy Spirit and hardened our hearts because of shame and regret.
We live in our shame and regret and it becomes a prison. But
The prison door is open and we are standing in an unlocked cage.
We have to remember that Jesus paid it all.
But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.
We do not have to carry the shame, the guilt, or the regret, the punishment was taken. We are freed.
I have said it before but one of the things that has set me free here is a quote from Martin Luther.
“So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: "I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!”
Martin Luther
A proper understanding of the doctrine of justification will set you free.
Justifications means you were guilty and Jesus has taken the judgment on your behalf and made you right.
You are now free you need only to walk in that freedom.
For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Understand the truth, and understand that truth sets you free. This causes us to wake up.
Rebellion
Rebellion
You can be asleep because you are actively rebelling against God. You know what God wants from you or what He is calling you too but instead of obeying you are actively rebelling against Him.
Instead of submitting to the Father you resist and harden your heart falling asleep. This is one we can all fall into so easily. God is patient and kind but we abuse that patience. He is calling us to something and because of fear, worry, or any other thing we resist and rebel. This is sin.
So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
The essence of sin is rebellion against divine authority.
A. W. Tozer
This very week I was convicted of rebellion. God showed me an area I was not living in full obedience. I am now trying my best to walk in obedience. It is not easy but it is necessary.
When we are rebelling against God often times He becomes quiet because He wants us to do the last thing He told us. When we do not, and when we refuse, we fall asleep.
In the Old Testament we get the story of Manasseh. His story is found in 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33.
We get more details about him and his rebellion in 2 Chronicles.
He worshipped and encouraged idol worship. He killed many people, he practiced witchcraft, and he even killed his own children sacrificing them to a false God. His wickedness was great and he led others into wickedness. He did not listen when the Lord called Him to stop.
Tradition even says that Manasseh is the one who killed the Prophet Isaiah. He was not only in rebellion to God but it was a flagrant rebellion. But God.
Eventually we learn that Manasseh repented.
He prayed to him, and the Lord was receptive to his prayer. He granted his request and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that the Lord is God.
He stopped his rebellion and turned around. Now the damage was done, natural consequences played out for the people around him and his children did evil. But it was never too late for him to stop and repent.
Our rebellion does not have to be this great, but it also does not matter what it is.
Rebellion is rebellion. Sin is sin.
It can be not doing what God says to do or doing what God says not to do.
Either way rebellion leads to a dull heart and to slumber. But as long as there is breath in your lungs you can turn it around.
Repentance leads to waking up.
Ignorance / Forgetfulness
Ignorance / Forgetfulness
We can be dull and a sleep because we are ignorant of the promises of God or forget the promises of God.
This is just because we do not know. We have not heard that Jesus has set us free. We don’t know that He has hope and life for us. We are unaware that it is an option.
We can only think the thoughts we can think.
We only know what we know. We need to come to God’s Word and receive it. We need to read His promises and receive His Word with gladness.
This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.
These are not Pastor Mike’s words, these are the words of God. Written for you. You never have to take my word for it. Take notes, take your Bible, open it up and ask God to speak.
Then when we receive the Word of God we rejoice and walk in everything He has for us.
Whatever the reason we sleep we need to wake up.
We need to wake up and get out of the tent, the dwelling we created, and put on the Lord Jesus.
Wake Up and get dressed
Wake Up and get dressed
When we wake up, we put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.
What does it mean to Put On Jesus?
The New Testament is filled with language like this.
Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Wake up and take off your sleeping clothes. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we do this, when we wake up and put on Jesus we are changed. We stop doing the old things and start doing the new things.
We have removed disappointment, regret, rebellion, and ignorance. We replace it with forgiveness, freedom, obedience, and wisdom.
We now walk in the things of the Lord. We do the things He called us to do. We work like He worked, and we walk like He walked.
The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.
We walk as children of light. We ask ourselves, what did Jesus do and then we do that.
What did Jesus do?
Jesus loved the least of these. Jesus would intentionally and specifically look for people who were outcasts and then go to them.
Jesus gave Himself. Jesus is the greatest gift ever and He gave Himself for others. We are called to find ways to give ourselves for other people.
Jesus forgave others. He had the authority because He is God to forgive and then He says go and do likewise.
Jesus lifted people up. Jesus did not tear people down. He rebuked, He corrected, but He did not tear down. He was always calling people up. Calling them to something better.
The task before us, the challenge before us to wake up and get dressed.
I get it, it is comfortable in bed. Hiding in our tent is safe. We have our blankets, and our comfy sleeping clothes. We want to hide under the blankets and just forget about all of it. We want to hibernate under the covers, but that is not the call.
The call is to wake up. The call is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The call to wake up is put on faith, put on Christ and walk out our salvation!
Communion
Communion
This morning we have communion. We have an opportunity before us to wake up and put on Christ. We have an opportunity to come to the table and receive from Him.
We have the opportunity to receive the bread and wine and ask God to examine our hearts. Ask Him to search your heart and see if you are awake or asleep. If you are asleep then let Him wake you.
If you do not know Jesus then this is the moment you have been needing. First, ask Jesus to save you and then receive the cup and put on Jesus.