Coming Events and Present Duties — J. C. Ryle
What Time Is It?
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Romans 13:12
Reader, you and I are in a world which is rapidly rolling on towards the day of judgment. There is an hour before us all when the earth and its works shall be burned up, and the inhabitants thereof shall all stand before the bar of Christ. There is a day to come whose issues are of greatest importance. Surely it befits us to think of that day. Are we ready for it? Is it possible that we may live to see it? Is it near, or is it far off? What time is it?
Come with me this day and consider the thoughts of an inspired Apostle on this solemn subject. He says, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on us the armor of light.” These words ought to come home to our consciences like the blast of a trumpet. They ought to rouse our sleeping minds to a sense of the eternal realities which are before us. They call upon us to lay aside all trifling, lingering, and carelessness about our Christianity. They summon us to a close walk with God.
There are four things brought before my mind by the words just quoted:
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You have here the present condition of the world. It is night.
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You have the condition of the world which is yet to come. It will be day.
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You have the particular time in which our lot is cast. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand.
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You have the duty of all believers who know the time. They ought to cast off the works of darkness and to put on the armor of light.
Upon each of these four points I have something to say.
First of all, let us consider the present condition of the world. The Apostle Paul calls it “night.” “The night,” he says, “is far spent.” I have no doubt, that word seems strange to some people. They think it surprising that our present time should be called “night.” They are living in days of learning, science, civilization, commerce, freedom, and knowledge. They see around them things which their forefathers never dreamed of — railways, manufacturing plants, gas, electricity, steam engines, education for all, and inexpensive books. I know it all, and am thankful for it.
Nevertheless I say that in the things of God, the world is still in a state of “night.” I believe that God looks down on this globe of ours as it rolls round the sun, and as He looks upon it, He pronounces it “very dark!” I believe that the angels go to and fro, and make report of all they see on our earth, and their constant report is, “very dark!” And I am sure that believers in the Lord Jesus in every land are of one mind on this subject. They cry and sigh because of the abominations they see around them. To them the world appears “very dark!”
Is it not dark in heathen lands? There are two-thirds of the whole world in open rebellion against God and His Christ. Two out of every three inhabitants of the globe have no Bible, no Gospel, no knowledge, no faith, no hope! They are cruel, deceitful, immoral, earthly sensual, devilish, idolatrous, superstitious! Surely that is night!
Is it not dark in many professedly Christian countries? There are two-thirds of all the professing Christians on earth who are unsound in the faith. Their religion simply is not Scriptural. They have added to it many things which are not to be found in the Bible. They have left out of it many things which the Bible has plainly commanded. There are millions who give honor to the Virgin Mary and dead saints — instead of Christ. There are millions of baptized people who know nothing of the Bible, and have not the slightest idea of the salvation contained in the Gospel. Surely that is night!
Is it not dark in our own country at this present day? How much of sin there is in Protestant Britain — and how little of God! How much of open infidelity, heathenish ignorance, drunkenness, swearing, cheating, lying, covetousness — is weekly crying against us before the Lord Almighty! How many people in Great Britain go to no place of worship at all! How many go to church and chapel merely as a matter of form! How few are really in earnest about the salvation of their souls! How few have any evidence to show of a saving faith in Christ and a real work of the Spirit in their hearts! Surely even among ourselves it is night.
Is there not much darkness under the eyes of every true believer? Go to the most godly, quiet, and orderly parish in our land at this moment. Ask any well-informed child of God residing in it how many true Christians it contains, and what is the proportion of the converted to the unconverted. Mark well the answer he will give. I doubt if you will find a parish in Great Britain where one third of the people are converted! And if such be the report of parishes which are like the green tree, what must be the state of things in the dry? Surely it is night!