Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1614
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, August 21, 1881
“And that, kno wing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. The nightis far spent, the day is athand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Romans 13:11-14.
THIS passage is a piece of holy teaching set forth under the parable of rising in the morning and preparing for the work of the day. May the Holy Spirit help me to place it before you in a clear light. It is a great mistake in a man’s life when he does not know the times in which he lives and how to act in them—and when he does not know the time as to the day of his own life, so as to apply his heart unto wisdom. The Apostle speaks of his Roman brethren as “knowing the time.” What, then, is the time of day with the Christian? It is no longer the dead of the night with us, but, “the night is far spent, the day is at hand.” A little while ago the dense darkness of ignorance was about us, but the Gospel has made us light in the Lord. We were asleep in the gloom of sin—like a thick cloud it enveloped all our powers—but God has brought us out of darkness into His marvelous Light.
Some of us were plunged in despair, a night without a moon, without a star. We were without hope and feared that our future would be the “blackness of darkness forever.” That hopeless gloom is over and we have the Light of God and joy in Christ Jesus. The daystar is shining upon us, the Light of God that lightens the Gentiles cheers our path and we look for a perfect day though it is not, as yet, full day with us. Cloudless brightness is still a thing of desire and expectation. The sun has risen, but it is not noon as yet. For that we look when we shall see the Well-Beloved in His kingdom and wake up in His likeness. “The day is at hand,” says the Apostle, and that is a word of good cheer!
What, then, is “the time” which Paul would have us know? It is the early morning, it is the dawning of the eternal day. The sun has scattered the thick darkness of Nature’s night. We are enjoying his first golden beams—the time of the singing of birds has come—the time of the dew of Grace and of the fresh breath of the Spirit. It is not full day yet but, still, the night has gone and the perfect day of our salvation, when body and soul, too, shall be delivered from every taint and trace of the work of Satan, is “nearer than when we believed.” The light and heat of day are strengthening. The darkness and chill of night are vanishing. We are getting further off from the power of ignorance, sin and despair. We are getting more and more under the influence of knowledge, holiness and hope!
The Apostle would have us know for sure that the true Light of God now shines, even that which will grow brighter and brighter unto the perfect day! Joy be to our souls, the Sun of Righteousness has risen upon us with healing beneath His wings! Of what value is the knowledge of the time of day? It lies here. Certain duties arise out of the hour. “Man goes forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening.” From morning to evening and from evening to morning, again, there is a round of duty to be fulfilled and each work is pleasing if attended to in its own season. When the shadows of evening fall, the time has come for going home, where domestic joys await us at the hearth. It would not be right for the laboring man to go home in the morning, nor seemly for him to be going out at night.
Each duty has its own time of day and, therefore, the Apostle would have us know the hour and be assured that it is high time to awake out of sleep. He urges us to the duties which attend the hour of rising, the hour to which we have now come. As my Master helps me, I shall endeavor, first of all, to give the morning call. And then, secondly, to preach the morning Gospel.
I. First, LISTEN TO THE MORNING CALL. I have shown you that the hour of the day is that in which men should rise and begin their daily service. And its first seasonable duty is to awake—“It is high time to awake out of sleep.” When day begins sleep should end. The bugle sounds in the camp, “Awake! Awake!” But are not all Christians awake? Yes, from the sleep of death, but not from other kinds of sleep. Many need rough shaking and loud calling before they will be thoroughly awakened. Beloved Brothers and Sisters, I speak to you upon whom the Light of God has arisen and who are now delivered from the power of darkness, for you will not deny that it is high time for you to shake off the bands of slumber.