Key Verse: Romans 13:11 

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” 

I am a firm believer that some people sleep too much. I would even venture to say that we have a sleep epidemic on our hands. We youth as well as adults who are sleeping 10-14 hours a day!! That’s too much sleep, and it causes us to not complete the tasks we need to do! I also believe that there is a different type of sleep epidemic on our hands. It is honestly a worse epidemic and it is what Paul is referring to in Romans 13. We have too many Christians who sleep walking through the Christian life. Sure, they may attend church, they may occasionally read the Bible, but there is no real fire, no real desire for the things of God. Today, in Bentonia Baptist Church as well as in the global church, we need Christians who are pursuing God above all else. We need Christians who will stop sleep walking and instead wake up and seek God. And we need this to happen soon. Why do we need this to happen soon? The reason is because our salvation is nearer now then when we first believed. What does this mean? Does this mean we are not currently saved? NO! The Bible speaks about salvation in the past, present, and future. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. Here Paul is referring to future aspect of our salvation. It is when we are saved from God’s wrath to come. We will not experience the ultimate judgement of God when He casts the devil and unbelievers into the lake of fire. Now whats important is the fact that Paul says that day is nearer then when we first believed. The future aspect of our salvation is getting nearer and nearer to being completed every day. 

Friends, that is the reason we need to wake up. The return of Christ is getting closer by the day, and we need to wake up and live for Him. What does it look like to wake up? Paul tells in the next several verses. He says that we must cast off works of darkness, put on the armor of light, walk properly in Christ, and make no provision for the flesh. God is calling us to wake up and live for Him. His return is getting closer each day!