"Awake Thou That Sleepest, And Raise From The Dead"

Ephesians 5:14

If you are yet without faith, you are without Christ. You are spiritually dead. To you the Spirit of God says, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

YES, GOD COMMANDS YOU TO DO WHAT YOU HAVE NO NATURAL ABILITY TO DO. He commands you to awake and rise from the dead. And he promises eternal life to all who obey his command. The lame man couldn't walk. The blind man couldn't see. The man with the withered arm couldn't stretch forth his hand. Lazarus couldn't come out of the tomb. But when Christ commanded it, they all did what they could not do by nature.

HERE IS A TWOFOLD COMMAND OF GOD AND A BLESSED PROMISE OF GRACE. The command is "Awake thou that sleepest." God commands you to wake up from your sullen sleep of indifference. You are lost. You are without Christ. The wrath of God is upon you. The mouth of hell is opened to engulf you. Wake up! The command is "Arise from the dead." Arise from the death of unbelief to the life of faith, the death of sin to the life of grace, the dead works of false religion to the life of Christ, dead doctrine to living truth, dead emotionalism to living communion, the bondage of death to the liberty of life. Arise from death, that is everything without Christ, to life, that is everything in Christ. Christ is life. "He that hath the Son hath life." To put it in other words, God's command is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ."

The blessed promise of grace is "Christ shall give thee light." Many try to put the cart before the horse. They say, "If you can get enough light then you may be permitted to awake and rise from the dead." That is all wrong. We come to light through Christ. We do not come to Christ through light. If what you seek is light, satan will gladly give you a light with five candles in it to carry with you into hell! What you must have is Christ. Come to Christ, and he will give you light, true light, eternal light in your soul. Christ is Light. But any light you get without Christ is total darkness. Come to Christ and he will give you light into the wonders of electing love, the mysteries of blood atonement, the riches of saving grace, the saints' everlasting inheritance, and even the secret counsels of God. But you must awake, arise, and come to Christ.

Don Fortner