I have entitled my message this morning, Setting Off God's Alarm in the Ears of Sleeping Christians. We are turning to the fifth chapter of First Thessalonians, and the text is verse six. Let us not sleep as others, but let us watch and be sober. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. There are four things in this great text from Paul's prophetic epistle to the Thessalonians. First of all in this verse there is an indictment. Paul is condemning certain people who have gone to sleep. So I want first of all to deal with the indictment of this text. Secondly, in this text there is an argument. Notice the first verse, the first word. Therefore, one of Paul's great reasoning words, the conclusion of one of Paul's great arguments. So there is an argument in this verse. And secondly, I want to deal with the argument of the verse. Then thirdly, there is a lament in this verse. Paul laments about others. That's the most interesting expression. Look at it. Therefore let us not sleep as do others. Paul is saying there are those that are sleeping. There's not much of a possibility that they'll ever awake. And Paul laments over the others that are not alerted. in the service of Christ. So thirdly, there is a lament in this verse. Last of all, there is an atonement in this verse, the atonement of watching and being sober. So I want to deal with the indictment of the I want to deal with the argument of the text. I want to deal with the lament of the text. And I want to deal with the attainment of the text. First of all, the indictment. The word in the original here for sleeping is deep. slumber. You could read it, therefore let us not fall into deep slumber. There are three things that are characteristic of a person who has fallen into deep slumber. First of all, that person is unaware of what's happening around him. There could be great joy in the house where he is sleeping, but he knows nothing of the joy that fills others' hearts. There could be deep and tragic sorrow in that house, but he knows nothing in his deep slumber of the sorrow or tragedy that may have struck the house where he is sleeping. There could be great happenings in the city and in the nation. Dynasties could be toppling. Wars could be declared. Great armies could be marching. and conquered marching and locking themselves in deadly struggle and combat together. But the man in deep slumber, he is completely and absolutely unaware. Isn't this true of many of God's people today? How many of us are really aware of what is happening around us, spiritually speaking? So busily engaged in the passing transient things of time and sense. Every hour and every minute occupied with business and worldly things. that we are unaware of the millions of souls that are perishing, unaware of the cries of the lost, unaware of the agonies of the damned. My brethren and sisters, we need to be thoroughly and absolutely aware of the situation. If the need of souls makes no deep impression on your heart, then you must be asleep. If the fact that a hundred thousand souls a day are passing one by one away in Christless guilt and gloom doesn't cast a real dark shadow over your thinking, then you are unaware You have fallen into a deep and terrible sleep. And from that sleep the Scripture tells us it is urgent, it is imperative that we should be awake. So the first characteristic of a man who is sleeping, of a woman who is sleeping, is that they are completely unaware. I want to ask you a question this morning. Are you unaware? of what's happening around you? Does the need of souls and the trump of Christless feet make any impression upon you? Or have you fallen into this deep slumber that this text is an indictment of? The second characteristic of a person who is asleep, he is completely undefended. There was a great general called Sisera. He was an enemy of God's people. He fought a battle and he lost it. And he went into a woman's tent and she put him to sleep. The woman's name was Jill. And she put him over to sleep. She gave him butter and a lordly dish and gave him the fine creamy milk. that she had drawn from the cart. And he lay down, and she covered him over with a blanket, and he went to sleep. And then she went out, and she took a hammer and a great nail, and she approached him. And as he was sleeping, she drove the nail through his head and fastened him to the ground." You can read all about it in the book of Judges, in case you think I'm telling you a story this morning. Let me tell you, that was a great general. He caused consternation in the armies of Israel. But when he went to sleep, he was completely undefended. That's what's happened to the Christian church that went to sleep. And the enemies came in. And the enemies took over. And today in the Christian church, the Romanists and the Ecumenists are in power. Why? Because the church went to sleep and became completely undefended. Brethren, we need to awake. It would be the purpose of the devil to put this church to sleep. to put the minister and the office bearers and the Sabbath school teachers and the members of this church into a great slumber. We could go into the slumber of contentment. We could say all is well with us. We could become like the Laodiceans and say we are rich, we are increased with goods and of need of nothing and know not that we are poor and naked and blind and miserable. My brethren, when a man goes to sleep he is undefended. This is the characteristic of a sleeping Christian. He is a prey to the enemy. an easy target to the great adversary and the plaything of Satan himself. The third characteristic of a person that has gone to sleep is this, they are unproductive. They cease to make a vital contribution in terms of activity to society. And let me tell you, when the church goes to sleep, it becomes unproductive. It is no longer active for God. It is no longer producing the goods. It is no longer attaining to the great objective of the gospel. And how many evangelical churches we have in this land that are sung But alas, they are sound asleep as well, and the production has stopped. I was so glad on Thursday when I was talking to our students for the ministry. One by one they were reporting about souls being saved in their Sunday service. Great to see young men coming in with the joy of the soul winner upon their face and saying, yes, Mr. Paisley, we had two souls on Sunday evening. Yes, I had the great joy of leading three souls to the Lord on Sunday night. This is what the free Presbyterian church is about. We have come out, yes, what to do? To go into a land that is a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land of revival, blessing, and of soul winning activity. Great to see that new work in Bambridge. We constituted that church wedding on Thursday evening. It was over 500 people in the service, including the local Irish Presbyterian minister. So the Free Presbyterian Church must be going places when the Presbyterian minister comes along to see what's happening. That's a good sign. I trust that young man. God will separate him. and bring them out and free them, give them liberty in the Holy Ghost and the freedom of the power of the blood of the Lamb. Yes, sir. Unproductive. That's the indictment. Let's move to the argument. Why is it that you shouldn't sleep? Look at it. There are three reasons why you shouldn't sleep. Number one, it's the daytime. When the night comes, I don't wonder at the stillness in the streets. When the night comes and I pass by the homes, I don't wonder at the closed doors and the unlit rooms, for the night is the time to sleep. But if I passed along the roadway at twelve noon and every home was still and the blinds were still drawn, then I would know that there was in those homes the sleep of death itself. Let me tell you, friend, it's the daytime. That's what Paul says. Look at it. He said, For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, be drunken in the night. But ye are all the children of light. If a Christian remains sleeping, there comes the question whether that person whom we have termed a Christian really knew God's daylight in their soul. The characteristic of God's people is they're children of the day and children of the light. And Paul is arguing, and he says, it's daytime! Therefore, we should be fully awakened. It's all right in the night to sleep, but now has come the time of day. Oh, it must be the breaking of the day. The day has broken in the Christian church for service. The night is coming when no man can work. This is the daytime. Let us arise. and do the work that God wants us to do. That's the first argument. The second argument is this. It's war time. It's war time. Therefore, waken up the enemies upon you. Look at verse 8. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the brass plate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the helmet of salvation. The second argument is this, it's war time. The man that sleeps at the post of duty is a traitor. The man who allows the enemy to take the ramparts as he lies sleeping in deep slumber, that man is a traitor to his queen and to his country and to the regiment in which he serves. And yet, alas, today there are Christians in this time of war who are saying to their pastors, feed us! Let us eat the Lord's dindies! Let us enjoy the Lord's rich provision! But we don't want to fight the Lord's battles, or engage the Lord's enemies, or take part in the Lord's battle. How many people there are like that? How many Christians shun the conflict? Oh, they like the good things on the table of the Lord. They enjoy the blessings of the Bible reading. They enjoy the blessings of the evangelical convention. But when it comes to the battle, they are not seen in the right. that are contending earnestly for the fear that was once for all delivered to the sins." Brethren, it is wartime. The war is on. And it's war to the death. And if we don't resist the enemy, we shall be overthrown. And if we don't conquer sin, sin will conquer us. And if we don't do battle against Satan, Satan will do battle against us and overpower us and overthrow us. And there never was a day in the whole history of the Christian church when we needed to fight the Lord's battle. Do you remember the curse that was put on Meroz? Curse ye, curse ye Meroz. For ye came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty." My brethren, here is an argument to awaken us up. It's daytime. It's wartime. Last of all, there's another argument in this chapter. Look at it. It's the last time. The last time. Look at it. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." It is the last time. It is the end time. And as I see the conflagration starting in the Middle East, as I hear of wars and rumors of wars, as I see men's hearts healing them for fear, looking on the things that are coming on the earth, As I see the love of many waxing cold, these are signs that Jesus Christ is coming again. Tell me, are you sleeping in the last days? Or are you fully alerted and awakened as a Christian? Are you at your best for Jesus Christ? Are you going the second mile for the Lord? I tell you, brethren, if we were fully alerted, this church would be different. Its prayer meetings would be different. Its attendance, as far as God's people are concerned, would be different. We all need to be stirred to the very depths of our hearts. Here is the divine argument, the apostolic reasoning. It is daytime. Wake it up! It is wartime. Wake it up! It is the last time! Waken up, for soon shall the season of rescue be over. Soon shall man drift to eternity's shore. Here stand my brethren, no time for delay, but out with the lifeline and save them today. In this verse, there is not only indictment and argument, but there's a lament in this verse. Sleep as do others. That's an important thing. I was looking that up in the original, and the word for others is the word refuse. Those that God has refused. Do you know, my friend, when we fail to do the will of God, God can set us aside from His servant? Paul prayed that he might not become a castaway. That didn't mean that he would fall into hell and be lost. The word castaway means a reject as far as service is concerned. And if I don't do what God wants me to do, if I close my ears this morning to the call of God to awaken, if I, my friends, stubbornly go on in my worldly pursuit, in my attention of making money and prospering, and not giving God my tithes and offerings and my time, then I want to tell you, God can refuse you as far as services are concerned. And there are men in this city, and they're asleep, and they'll never waken from that sleep as far as God's services are concerned. They're finished! They've had their day! They've had their chance! I remember as a young man listening to Mr. Nicholson. Mr. Nicholson said something like this. I didn't understand it. I was only a boy. I knew what he was getting at. He said, you old Christians, some of you are 50, 60 years on the road. And you disobeyed God years ago. He said, I give you permission now to go to sleep. You can go to sleep in this meeting. I have nothing to say to you. But he says, you young people just newly saved, listen to me in God's name, for I have something to say to you. And I wonder that I'm telling people to go to sleep. I knew what he's at. He was saying, you old Christians, you have had your chance. You missed God's best. You didn't awaken when I sent off my alarm in your ears. I cannot use you anymore. You are a refuse, a reject. We're not to sleep as do the rejects, the men that are finished as far as God's service. Now listen, let me tell you, the best of men can be finished. As far as God's service is concerned, I know men who twenty years ago were zealous for the Lord. When I came to this city, they were keen for the Lord. They were chasing after souls. They were eager in prayer. They were eager in testimony. Today, they have gone to sleep. I fear for them. I feel their rejects. God has no further use for them. Wouldn't that be a great tragedy? That we would go to sleep and God would say, I'm not going to awaken them. Let them sleep on. His day of usefulness is over. His day for real Christian service is past. Oh, there's a lament in this verse, let us not sleep as do others. Are you one of the others this morning? Let's ask ourselves that question. Last of all, there is the attainment of this tax. We are to watch. Ah, that's it, watch. And be sober. If ever God's people needed to watch, they need to watch today. You know who you need to watch yourself? It would be easy, wouldn't it, today to give a little in to the devil and the world. You know, the world is subtle. There are temptations abroad today we never faced before. You fathers and mothers, it would be easy, wouldn't it, to give in to your children? You know, there are some children and they run the home. It's not the father and mother runs it. And that's a tragedy. You need to watch your home, friend. Because when you send that little toddler out to school, you're sending them out into a world that today is filled with evil. And if you don't cover them with the precious blood of the name of Jesus in the very secular schools of this land, their minds could become totally and absolutely corrupt. The language of young boys and girls today in the classroom is utterly deplorable. I tremble for our children as they grow up. You need to watch your hope. Guard it, my brother! Don't let the enemy! In the name of progress! I've had Christians come to me and they've said, you know, I'm so glad I'm not narrow-minded like you, Mr. Peasmey. I let my children go here, there, and yonder. Friend, I'm narrow-minded because I'm on the narrow way. And I want to tell you today, friend, if we're going to be branded for narrow-mindedness, let us be branded for narrow-mindedness. Let us guard our family's watch. Let us guard the church! It'd be so easy to let things into the church. I was in a great church in America. the last time but one that I was there. This was a great church. And I saw a great building going up. And I said to the pastor, you're building again. He said, we are. He said, we're putting up, he says, in our church, he says, a great play center for our youth. He said, you know, Ian, if you had told me twenty years ago that I ever would have done such a thing, I would have held up my hands in horror. But he says, we're moving with the times. Moving with the times. My friend, God's church is geared to eternity. It's not geared to the times. God forbid that we should ever in this church go into the field of worldly activity of any kind. This building has been built to open this book and expound the Word of God. A preacher is not called to be a master of ceremonies, but a preacher of the Word. And that's why the church goes down. I stood and looked at that pastor, an eminent man of God, and I said to myself, God, keep me from ever in my ministry choosing the second best. Let's keep to the great purpose of the church, to win souls for Christ, to be a testimony for God. to build up the seals. And if you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all other things shall be added unto you. We need to watch the church. We need to watch its membership. We need to watch its standards. We need to watch ourselves. We need to watch the devil. You need to watch the pope as well. Yes, sir. And you need to watch the ecumenist. A whole lot of them. And we're to be sober! What does that mean? We're not to be intoxicated with anything. You could be intoxicated with your own success and fall a prey to the devil, you know. You could be intoxicated with your own zeal for the Lord and lose out for God. We have to be a man that are sober. And if we watch and are sober, praise God when Jesus comes, our lamps will be trimmed and burning, and we'll be ready to go out and meet the bridegroom. Let us remember the indictment of this text. Let us give heed to the argument of this text. May the lament of this text be never lamented over us. And God grant that every one of us will achieve the tax's attainment and will watch and be sober as children of the day. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy Word. It's a good Word. It's a blessed Word. It's an appropriate Word. It's a seasonal Word. O God, write it on our hearts. Forbid that we should be hearers only. God, make us doers of Thy Word. Grant that this church may be fully aware that we may not be unaware of what's happening. May we not be undefended. May we not be unproductive. But, O God, may we be children of the light and children of the day, watching and being sober, listening unto the coming of the great day of God, for Jesus' sake, and the people of God's sake. Amen.