ARISE FROM YOUR SLUMBER

Eltham Baptist 7th Sept 2012

No. 392

"Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand--" Joel 2:1

I have had this verse impressed upon my heart over this last week. Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm in my Holy Hill. I especially feel this is applying to us as a Church and not just for Israel of old. Zion can also be called the Church. The Church of Christ is foretold in prophecy under the names of "Zion" and also the holy "mountain." It is the "stone cut out without hands, which became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" Daniel 2:34-35. It is also said, "Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob!" Isaiah 2:3. And Paul says, "ye are come unto mount Zion and unto the city of the living God" Hebrews 12:22. The words here can be a rule for all times. Why should an alarm be sounded? Alarms are normally to warn us or wake us up. We hear the fire alarm go off at the Fire Station quite a lot to call firemen out for an emergency. Smoke alarms can go off in your house when you burn the toast or warn of a fire. In this verse it's to warn that the Day of the Lord is near at hand. I don't think we are ready for the Lord's return - do you? Many Christians let alone the sinner man is asleep, apathetic, and indifferent to the things of God. I am having a shofar blown this morning as a symbolic gesture to wake God's people up to the lateness of the hour. Shofars were blown to call God's people to Holy Festivals in days of old and to gather the tribes of Israel. We all use alarms in our lives to help wake us up for something important. Thank God we don't have the old fashioned ones any more that I had as a child, with no volume control, it nearly frightened you to death rather than woke you up. Sometimes in your sleepy stupor you would accidentally knock it onto the floor and have to get up and turn it off. We can now us a radio or our smart phones with a pleasant sound to wake us up. My phone wakes me to the sound of bubbles and is pleasing to the ears. All I have to do to turn it off is just shake the phone. If we have something important to get up for we don't want to sleep through, so an alarm is important. We often need waking up from a state of unconsciousness into a place of alertness. There are lots of references to 'sleep' in the bible but the one I want to major on is the reference to sleep that means to be careless, inattentive, or unconcerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly. We need an alarm to wake us up from this drunken sleepy state. Here are a few references found in the New Testament on the subject.
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Romans 13:11 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Ephesians 5:14 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep in the night, and those who are drunk are drunk in the night. 1 Thessalonians 5:6-7

The Jews are referred to as being asleep, for they don't know who their Messiah is.
As the Scriptures say, "God has put them into a deep sleep. To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see, and closed their ears so they do not hear." Romans 11:8

I sense a sleepiness over the Church that we need waking up from, for the day of the Lord is nearer than we think. Jesus gave the parable of the 10 Virgins and spoke of them all falling asleep and not realising the Bridegroom was about to burst onto the scene. Note that even the 5 wise virgins fell asleep as well as the foolish. No one knows the hour of Christ's return.
"The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep." Matthew 25:5

We need more than an alarm clock to wake us up for this event. We need to hear something in the Spirit and then believe it's from God. Elijah heard the sound of the abundance of rain even though there was hardly a cloud in the sky. God does nothing without first revealing it to His servants the Prophets. We need to be a Spirit filled people to hear what is going on in the Spirit realm.
And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. 1 Kings 18:41

"Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7

I believe we are in the Laodicean Church Age and face a powerful spirit of sleepiness each and every day, but the Lord assures us we can overcome.
To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of Gods creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarmneither hot nor coldI am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 3:14-22

God says that Laodicea has a problem with Luke Warmness as this age has a prevailing spirit of indifference, materialism and apathy. We dont need to succumb to this spirit though, as the previous spirit of revival is still with us today and that is the Spirit of Philadelphia that preceded this Church. The original City of Laodicea was built in a place that had bad water which made you sick when drank it but they solved this problem by bringing fresh water in by viaduct from 6 miles away. For us in this Laodicean Age, God says that we are a people who are like lukewarm water that makes Him sick. Luke warm is a mixture of hot and cold and many Christians today are also those who are neither hot nor cold. They profess being Christians but deny the power thereof. We need to repent of this condition and come back to our first love. In the Song of Solomon the Lover (Jesus) came to the woman (The Church) in the night and tried to wake her up so that she would come away with him, but the woman procrastinated and soon missed the opportunity. She felt bad and repented, and eventually found Him.
"I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My lover is knocking: Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night. I have taken off my robe must I put it on again? I have washed my feet must I soil them again? My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him. I arose to open for my lover, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the lock. I opened for my lover, but my lover had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer." Song of Solomon 5:2-6

I feel the Lord is calling His Church to come aside and worship Him at this time, to wake up from their unbelief, apathy and indifferent attitude and return to our first love. Let the fire of God's love burn again in your heart, shake off the sleepiness and repent. The trumpet call in Joel's day was a call to repentance, a call back to God, for judgement was near and they weren't ready. God is still calling us as a Church to repent even in our day. This is not just because we are closer to the Lord's return than ever before but to get back to our first love, back to a close relationship with God. What are some of the symptoms of us being asleep? Lack of prayer, lack of interest in His word insensitive to the things of the Spirit. Not wanting to praise and worship. Not wanting to be with the people of God. Becoming careless in our walk and doing things we once used to shun. Loving the things of the world more than the things of God. The Lord is calling out to His Bride and saying:
"Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. "The fig tree puts forth its green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." Solomon's Song 2:10-13

Have you ever had a dream where you were late for an important meeting, they are scary. If you want to see a very funny movie on the subject get out "Clockwise" starring John Cleese. He was a very punctual headmaster who had to be at an important ceremony to receive an award. Everything went wrong and he finally arrived there in a ripped suit and dozens of people after him, including the police. Hear the alarm and wake up, the Day of the Lord is nearer than you think. http://hottersermons1.blogspot.com