Sleepy Land - the Believer's Enemy — David Rubio

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Let us rise for an opening word of prayer, please. We thank you, Lord, that you are bread of life, that with you, Lord, we will hunger no more, and your bread is everlasting bread. O Lord, may we this morning look to you for strength, look to you for sustenance, Lord, look to you for all that we could ever need or ask or desire.

O Lord, we are so thankful that you are here with us this morning. We thank you for the word preached this morning, Lord, to grown-ups and to children, and we just ask that your Holy Spirit will continue to be among us, Lord, and that you would open up ears to hear and spiritual eyes to see what you would have us learn, what you would have us take note in our own lives this day.

Remove, Lord, the distractions of the morning. Keep the enemy from taking any toehold, Lord, in our lives this time. Lord, may we look to you. It's no mistake that each one's here this morning, Lord. It's been orchestrated for you, by you, that on this day, on this day, this morning, that each individual here would be here to hear what you have to say.

Give me unction, Lord, and lead and guide us, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Well, this morning, I, too, would like to greet you in Jesus' name. I pray that you've been encouraged, and I thank you, Ron and Willis, for setting the foundation of what God, I believe, has for God's people to hear this morning.

Physical Sleep as a Picture of Spiritual Slumber

Well, I would like to first just kind of give, by any way of introduction, I'd like to talk about a favorite pastime of mine. In fact, I would have to say it's probably a favorite pastime of everybody here in this room, that each one here enjoys doing every day.

In fact, all of us spend about, we'll end up spending about one-third of our lives doing this every day that we are alive. And what is this favorite pastime, you might be wondering? You know, this favorite daily activity, you may ask?

Well, it's sleep. Sleep. Good old sleep. And, you know, doctors and scientists today still do not fully understand the role of sleep in human beings. Sleep is defined as a state of changed consciousness, a change of awareness, a change of alertness, or it can also be defined as sleep as partial unconsciousness from which a person can be awakened or aroused.

That's how sleep is defined. And although doctors and scientists do not fully understand the full significance of sleep in the human being, they do acknowledge that sleep is necessary for the body to be able to repair itself and restore itself in many of our body systems, whether it's our circulatory system with our heart, our nervous system, our digestive system, sleep is there to help us repair and restore.

In fact, scientists have found out that we actually go through several stages of sleep during the night, actually five stages they feel, especially if you're a younger person. As we get older, that changes a little bit, but five stages.

And those five stages are gone through every 90 minutes a night. So that's about an hour and a half. So if you sleep eight hours a night, you're going through those five cycles about four times during the time that you sleep.

And they find that the first four cycles, the first four, are you going to light sleep and all of us know what that is. You kind of start dozing off, but you still know what's going on around you. And the second stage, you fall a little more deeply asleep.

In the third stage, you're getting pretty deeply asleep. And scientists realize then that your breathing slows down, your heartbeat slows down, your moving muscles, called skeletal muscles, they start to relax.

Even your body temperature starts to drop a little bit. And in that third and fourth stage, that's when you start to do a little dreaming and you're real relaxed and the body is very, very quiet and still.

And for really deep sleepers, and that fourth stage is really pretty a deep sleep, it's hard to wake people up. Some of you have little children, you know how that goes when your little ones fall really, really asleep and you try to wake them up and they're just, I mean, it's hard to get them up.

Well, they're in that fourth stage of sleep. And then the strangest thing happens in the fifth stage. It's called the REM stage, R-E-M. It stands for rapid eye movement. All of a sudden, we're real relaxed, we're at the most calmest time that our body could be, everything's slowing down, then all of a sudden, our brain activates and our brain gets really active.

And all of a sudden, our heart rate goes up, we're still asleep, OK? Our heart rate goes up, our heart starts beating faster, we start breathing faster, our body temperature starts to come back up, and then the body starts moving our eyes underneath our eyelids.

That's why it's called rapid eye movement sleep. Our eyes are rapidly moving, our eyes are closed. And some of you have seen this in your children. Your children are asleep and you look at them and you'll see their eyeballs are moving underneath their eyelids.

And see, all of us as adults do the same thing too, rapid eye movement sleep. And scientists are wondering, why all of a sudden are we so relaxed and then we're so active again? And scientists think it's one way of the brain to be able to, and the Lord's given us this ability, to be able to reshuffle the events of the day.

And like in a computer where you put things in a file someplace here, you put things in a file there, that's when the brain is doing all of those things to clear all of the clutter out of our minds so that we can think better and more clearly the next day.

That's why if you don't get sleep, you start getting frustrated, you can't think real well, and they think it's because our brain hasn't had a chance to go through that one stage. Well my point here this morning isn't to talk about sleep necessarily, not physical sleep.

It's fascinating, it's a really interesting subject that I really find myself really drawn to quite a bit. But the goal is not to talk about physical sleep today. But it's to draw you to the fact that the Bible teaches us a lot about sleep that relates to our spiritual life.

And it is this area, this morning, this area of our Christian life that the Lord has laid on my heart to share with you today. And the title for today's message is a simple title, but it's a powerful title.

Sleepy Land, Sleepy Land, The Believer's Enemy, Sleepy Land, The Believer's Enemy. You know, this message shared with you this morning is from the Holy Spirit, not only to you, but to me. In fact, I consider it my own wake-up call this morning here, so I'm preaching to myself this morning, not just to you.

So if my preaching seems somewhat direct this morning, it's not directed necessarily to you, it's directed to me. And I pray that as it reflects off of me, you will see some things in your life also. Because see, there is one thing that I dread above all others in my life.

And that is the thought that I would drift away from Christ at some point in my life. I tremble at the thought that I could become slothful, lazy, that I could become spiritually neglectful, that I could be caught up in faithlessness and prayerlessness and go on for days or weeks without seeking God and his precious word, growing sleepy spiritually, sleeping off into unconsciousness in my soul.

Many of us here today would agree that this is the state in which we find many Christians, in which we find many churches today. It's the state in which we find many of the denominations today. Once mighty men spiritually, once mighty women spiritually, once mighty churches, once mighty denominations have fallen asleep and drifted off the narrow path of the true faith and the true gospel, leading to the ruin of multitudes of souls.

And how did this happen? How did this happen, you may say? Well, I would like to just, as a matter of introduction, read you a little few paragraphs and one of my other than the Bible, one of my favorite books is The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.

And there's a passage in here, how many of you have read that book or have heard the tape series? I think many of us here have because I know the ministry had a tape series. But you know the characters, Christian's the main character in this dream that John Bunyan had and he wrote it down.

And there's a passage here when his partner, one of his travel companions by the name of Hopeful and he are traveling along and they've been traveling along now for a little while and they come to this place.

And it helps answer this question that I just asked. How did this happen to strong Christians, to strong churches, to strong denominations that they got off the narrow path? Let me read this to you. John Bunyan starts out by saying this.

And I saw in my dream that they went till they came into a certain country whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy if he became a stranger into it. And here Hopeful began to be very dull and heavy of sleep.

Wherefore he said unto Christian, I do now begin to grow so drowsy that I can scarcely hold up mine eyes. Let us lie down here and take one nap. By no means, said Christian, lest sleeping we never awake more.

Why, my brother, asked Hopeful, sleep is sweet to the laboring man. We may be refreshed if we take a nap. Christian replied, do you not remember that one of the shepherds bid us beware of the enchanted ground?

He meant by that that we should beware of sleeping. Wherefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. As we read this little excerpt from the Pilgrim's Progress, we see that on their journey to the Celestial City, which represents heaven in this story, this was the most treacherous, the most dangerous portion of their journey.

Because it is here that they and we get comfortable and we settle in and we curl up and we snuggle up and zeal is lost, lukewarmness settles in, and like in our own spiritual bodies when everything slows down, also in our spiritual bodies, all the systems slow down.

We start losing discernment. We lose our zeal for the Lord. We don't understand scripture the way we used to and everything starts to get fuzzy like when you start to fall asleep. And that happens to us spiritually as well.

And then sleep and slumber follows. And the Bible warns clearly that it is possible for devoted Christians, and many of us sit in this room, devoted Christians, that it's possible for devoted Christians to drift from Christ due to being spiritually asleep.

And the Bible offers powerful warnings against falling asleep in neglecting so great a salvation. In Hebrews 2, 1 -3, the Lord talks about that great salvation. And I need to read about that this morning to you.

I feel compelled and I need to. Because it sets the stage of the seriousness of what I'm talking about here this morning. Hebrews 2, verses 1 -3. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense or reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?

So the question is, how shall we escape? How shall we escape this world? How shall we escape hell if we neglect so great salvation? You know, there are biblical examples here of once strong churches that neglected that warning, that ended up drifting from loving Jesus Christ and loving his biblical truth and walking in obedience.

In Revelation 2, we read about the Ephesian church grieving Christ by drifting away in sleepful neglect and disobedience from their first love, our Lord Jesus Christ. And in Revelation 3, we read about the Laodicean church that also drifted through neglect, spiritual sleeping, into lukewarmness.

And the church at Sardis in Revelation 3 drifted in sleepiness all the way to spiritual death. Paul warned the church at Galatia, the believers there, that they had drifted from the victory of Christ's cross and had turned back to the works of their flesh for a false salvation of works.

And he spoke of that in Galatians 3. And the Bible goes on and warns of many who fell to the wayside, who entered that land that John Bunyan talked about, that place where slumber was easy. I call it sleepy land.

He called it the enchanted ground. Enchanted means magical. It means kind of, there's a spell on it. And that spell isn't from the Lord. That spell is from the enemy. You know, you wished in that stage, in these churches at that stage, and maybe in your life at that stage, you wished you could pray.

But now the desire to really pray, true heartfelt prayers, is nearly gone, to all gone. In your slumber, you have become numb to the moving of the Holy Spirit in your life. Numb to your sin. Numb to your lack of zeal and fervency.

Numb to your lack of obedience to God and his word. Insensitive to God's people because you're asleep spiritually. Your heart no longer leaps at God's word preached. The songs of worship, the hymns sung, no longer move your soul.

Christianity has become a formality, a tradition, a religion. It has been said of such a person, and I quote you this, Once, if you thought of a person being condemned to hell, you would have wept for every soul out in tears.

But now, you could sit at the very brink of hell itself, and hear its wailings, unmoved. And at one time, the thought of being used of God to turn a sinner from his wicked ways would have made you jump at the opportunity.

You are told of the multitudes of souls swept by the mighty tide of sin, to destruction and everlasting fire, and you casually, nonchalantly express your regret. Oh, that's too bad. And yes, you contribute some money, some time, maybe a little bit of effort, maybe you take a short-term mission trip, but your heart is not stirred.

Your heart is not moved. You know you're asleep. You know you should wake up. But it's just too comfortable, too cozy. Oh, wake up, Christians. What happened? Well, God is calling us through the Holy Spirit this morning to wake up from our slumber, lest we also drift off to sleep, leading to that sleep that will separate us from God.

Spiritual Sleep Produces Unawareness and Delusion

And just as with physical sleep, spiritual sleep doesn't suddenly come upon us. We just don't instantly fall asleep. Remember those stages I talked about? You slip through them. You go through those stages.

Even in spiritual sleep, you know, you start out, you know, getting kind of comfortable, and the eyelids, the spiritual eyelids get a little heavy, and pretty soon our spiritual focus gets off. And we get fuzzy, and we get a little cloudy, and we get relaxed.

And then drowsiness sets in, and before you know it, we drift off to sleep. Well, I'd like to talk about that sleep this morning. What kind of condition does that kind of sleep put a Christian in? But I'm going to use some words here, and I think it's important for me to hear up front to clarify a couple of things.

I'm going to use the word spiritually asleep, and I'm going to use words like, or a phrase like, the soul sleeps. But I'm not talking about, like, when you're asleep, physically asleep. I'm talking when you're awake, when your eyeballs are open, you know, you're awake, you're sitting here, you're breathing, you're thinking, you're looking around.

I mean, you're physically awake, but I'm talking about your soul's condition here this morning. When I say spiritually asleep, I don't mean these things are going to happen to you when you're actually asleep in your bed.

I'm talking these things are going to happen when you're awake, and they could happen when you're asleep in your bed too, but most of these are going to happen even when you're awake, physically. And also, I want to clarify this too.

When I speak about our soul being asleep, I'm not talking about that, those false teachings or heresies about, you know, the false doctrine of annihilation talks about soul sleep, and the Seventh-day Adventists are really big into that.

Other groups and cults are into that. I'm not talking about that thing. I'm talking about us, Christians, when we're unawares, and we let down our guard, and we doze off into sleep. So, a question comes up, what type of condition does this kind of sleep put the Christian into?

Well, sleep is a condition where we lack perception, and where we lack feelings, and we lack awareness. Just like when you're physically asleep. When you fall into a real deep sleep, and those of you parents who have little ones, you know how this goes.

There could be noise in the room. I mean, you have children here probably right now with me talking into the microphone, people moving around. They're asleep. They're unawares of what's going on around them.

Some people, you know, you could be sleeping so deeply that, you know, a policeman could come to the door and knock on your window and say, hey, something's going on outside, and you wouldn't even hear the policeman.

You'd be sound asleep. Someone kept coming to give you a warning that the house is burning, burning, and their neighbor's house is burning down. And you could be so asleep, you wouldn't even know what's happening.

Perhaps there could be a loved one in your home that is seriously ill, seriously sick, but you could be so asleep, you wouldn't even know it. And perhaps that loved one may even die from their sickness, and you could be so asleep, so sound asleep, that you wouldn't even know it.

The world could fall apart, and you could stay asleep and not even know it. Or do you get the picture? Do you see the dangerous condition of such a one who sleeps so deeply physically? How about those who sleep spiritually that deeply?

Are you alive and awake physically and mentally this morning? You are, because you're here. But are you asleep to the things of God? You know, you wished you could feel and crave and desire for the things of God as you once did, but now there is little to no stirring in your heart anymore.

Unawares. That's one condition that sleep will put you into, and spiritual sleep will put you in that same condition. You're unaware of what's going on. You have no care for the lost. Your loved ones, you don't even know what's going on.

Your loved ones underneath your own nose in your own house are in danger. But you sleep on. Another condition that sleep puts you into spiritually, just like with physical sleep, is this. Sleep is a condition where we are subject to various fantasies, various vain imaginings, various delusions, and various lies.

When we sleep physically, we lose judgment and we lose discernment. And just think about it. When you physically sleep, when you're in bed, you don't know what's right or wrong, what's going on around you.

You can't make that decision. You're asleep. Well, spiritually, when that happens to us, the same exact thing occurs. You know, we get deceived. We get deceived. Sometimes, when we physically sleep, we dream, don't we?

And some people will dream more than others do. And again, scientists don't know why all that varies so much, but this is one thing we can say. Some people that are poor will often dream that they're rich.

And people that are rich will sometimes have a bad dream that they lost everything and grew poor, and they'll tremble. Those that are sick, they'll dream that they're sick and disabled. They'll dream that they're whole and fully able again.

The person that's well could dream that illness came upon them and they're disabled, and they'll tremble in fear. And see, that's what happens when we sleep. We are susceptible to delusions and to lies and to vain imaginings.

You know, as Christians, the same thing can happen to us. We could have delusions and lies, and strange things come into your mind and into your heart spiritually. Strange thoughts like, is the gospel really true?

Is the Christian life true, or is it just a phony life? Maybe the world, maybe this is just some story somebody made up. Maybe the Bible's not true at all. You know, those strange thoughts start to come into your mind.

Just like when you're physically asleep, you start thinking these strange things. Well, when you're spiritually asleep, those strange thoughts, those delusions, those lies, those fantasies come into your life.

Was Jesus really the Son of God, or was he just a man, like many say? See those thoughts? Is this the state of spiritual slumber that you are in? You know, the devil will take advantage, planting lies, planting deception that lead to doubt, fear, and unbelief.

A Christian in this condition might even have delusions of thinking of themselves better than they ought. You know, he or she might begin to believe that they're actually superior to other people. You know, that they're smarter.

That they're better looking. That they're more spiritual. That they're more talented. That they have more spiritual gifts than somebody else has. And pride sets in during that time of spiritual sleep and puffs them up.

Numb. Asleep to the truth of God when the Word of God says in 1 Peter 5, For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble, but in their sleeping state they believe the delusion, and it plays out in their life.

Friend, does this describe your condition this morning? If so, may God wake you up from it. In Ephesians 514, the Lord gives us the wake up call. He says, Awake, awake thou that sleepest. And that's the call this morning.

Awake. You know another thing about sleep? It puts you in a state of inaction. Inaction. In physical sleep, the body is still breathing, the heart is still beating, but there is no action of the body to accomplish any work, or to accomplish any task, or to accomplish any chore, or to help someone, or to serve someone, or to minister to someone.

The body is in a state of inaction, physically. And the same happens in our state of spiritual drowsiness. There appears to be a flicker of life there. You know, people still maybe read their Bible, they maybe still go to church, they maybe still go through the motions of devotions.

There's a little bit of flicker there, but there's no spiritual action there because the spiritual life is asleep. It's dead to the activity for the things of God. You know, this is a plague upon the land of Christianity.

There were those who were once active and awake to raising godly families, to nurturing a godly marriage, to having joyful and godly homes and children with godly attitudes at home and in public, wanting to participate in the outreaches and ministries of the Lord's work, but are now no longer active.

And they're neglectful in all of these areas that they were once given to, but they've fallen asleep. The Christian, the church that is asleep, is in a state of inaction, of lukewarmness. Oh, beware lest ye fall.

Awake, awake thou that sleepest. Another thing that sleep does to us is it makes us vulnerable. It makes us uncertain. It makes us insecure. If you think about crime, when does most crime take place? It takes place at night.

And it takes place when most people are asleep. A murderer easily kills the one that sleeps. A thief, a robber easily steals from the home where the owner sleeps. Well, the same holds true for the Christian who slumbers spiritually.

In Judges 4, Jehol slays Sisera while he sleeps. Abner, David's general, took King Saul's spear from his side as he slept. Sleeping Samson had his hair cut, unaware of his impending enslavement and torture by the Philistines when he awoke because he slept.

You see, spiritually sleeping men and women, brethren, are always in danger. Your family might be snatched away from you by the world, by the flesh, by the devil, while you sleep spiritually right under your own nose in your own house.

And besetting sin will overtake you as you sleep spiritually. A heresy, a false teaching, a false teacher, a false prophet, a wolf in sheep's clothing might attack and wound and disable and destroy you while you sleep.

Oh, awake thou that sleepest, you are in danger. Those are some of the places that we put ourselves when we're asleep. When we stop in our Christian life and we slumber on that devilish sleepy land of what John Bunyan called the enchanted ground.

Awakening the Sleeping Christian

So another question follows now. How can sleepy Christians be awakened? How can they be awakened? If they're asleep, how can they wake up? How can they be awakened? Well, part of the answer, just part of the answer is given in this true story shared by a godly, seasoned preacher from many, many years ago.

And this is what he said. I remember once in my life having a sleepy congregation. They had been eating too much dinner and they came to the chapel in the afternoon for the afternoon services, very sleepy.

So I tried an old method to rouse them awake. I shouted with all my might, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire. When jumping from their seats, alert and now awakened, some of the congregation asked, where is it?

Where's the fire? Where's the fire? And I told them it was in hell for sleepy sinners as they were. Now some might say, wow, those are harsh words. But how many of you would have a loved one with your house burning down deep in sleep and you'd go up to them to rouse them from a deep sleep and you'd say, no, you're going to say, honey, the house is on fire.

Wake up, get out. Our lives are in danger. So those of you who heard that story and took a little offense and say, boy, that was pretty hard. But see, when people's souls are at stake, even more so than their bodies at stake in a house on fire, there's more at stake.

Their eternal destiny is at stake. Wake up. Wake up. But there are some other important reasons and other important ways in which we can awaken the Christian and keep ourselves awake and shake off the drowsiness and wake up.

One of them is this. Awake, O Christian. Awake, O Christian, because the Lord is coming. The Lord is coming. And he will come as a thief in the night. First Thessalonians 5. It's a verse, some verses that we all know, but I want to read them here this morning in light of today's message.

First Thessalonians 5, 1 -9. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For 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 prevail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief.

Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Look at verse 6. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.

So brethren, we must be alert. We must be awake. We must be ready. The one who suffered, the one who bled, the one who died on the cross for our sins, he will return as he left in a cloud to receive his people.

Do you wish to be found by him dozing and sleeping and napping spiritually when the Lord comes? Do you want to be like the foolish virgins in Matthew 25? Remember the parable there that the Lord Jesus gave, who slumbered and slept as they waited for their bridegroom, Christ, to come?

And because they slept and were not ready spiritually, you know, five had oil in their lamps, the other five didn't, five could not enter the wedding feast. And in verse 12, if you look at that, it's found in Matthew 25, in verse 12, look what the Lord told them when they tried to get into the wedding feast.

He said, I know you not. I know you not. Oh, what a shame. What tragedy to have those words spoken. And I pray that it happens to none of us here. That none of us get before the Lord someday and he says, I know you not.

You fell asleep all those years ago. You departed from the faith. You neglected the Holy Spirit's nudging. You neglected the preaching of the word of God. You neglected my word. You quenched the Holy Spirit in your sleep.

And now I know you not. Well, let me ask you, if some famous person came to your house, would you sleep and nap? No, if it was someone important to you, you would definitely be prepared. You would not sleep.

In fact, some of you would probably stay up all night preparing if it was a last minute notice. You'd stay up late, early into the morning, late into the night preparing. You know, there's a little track that I came across a long time ago and it's a beautiful little track.

Some of you probably have it. It says, if Jesus came to your house. How many of you have this little track? You should get it. It's a good wake up call. If Jesus all of a sudden dropped in on your house, what would he find?

What reading material would he find in your house? What music would he have playing in your house? What would your attitude be towards your husband if Jesus all of a sudden popped in? What would your attitude be to your wife if Jesus all of a sudden popped in?

What would your children's attitude be? And see, that will keep you awake, won't it? If you know Jesus could come at any time, you know the Lord is coming. And we say that sometimes so casually, but he's coming.

And he's not going to come for people that are asleep. He's going to come for people that are awake. Just as if you knew that special guest was coming. And when that person comes to your door in your house and knock, will those around your house say, oh, the owner of the house is asleep and unprepared for your visit.

And the result would be that that important person, the Lord Jesus, would pass by and go to another house where they are ready, where they are prepared, where they are awake. That's what will happen to you or to me if we don't stay awake.

You might say, well, I'm not asleep. I am very active in the interest of life. Remember, the Lord is coming. And when he comes, will he find your soul asleep in your vanity? Will he find your soul asleep in your amusements?

Will he find your soul asleep in your fashions, in your sports, in your money, in your success, in your social activities? Will he find you asleep in your friends? Do you know what I mean? Those things that lull you to sleep spiritually?

Will he find you being lulled to sleep, to drowsiness by words of gossip, by dishonest actions or words of pride? Let me ask you, in what condition or activity will he find you when he returns? Will he find you awake or will he find you asleep?

Oh, brethren, may he not find us asleep. But wake from your slumber, for the Lord cometh. Another reason and way to shake off drowsiness or sleep in any spiritual life is this. How can we doze? How can we sleep?

How can we nap while souls are being lost? How can we do that? Oh, sleepy Christian, if I could shout in your spiritual ears this morning, you are sleeping. You are fuzzy-headed. You are drowsy while souls are being lost, even the souls of your own wife, your children, your loved ones, your family members, your parents, your neighbors.

Sleeping while lost men and lost women are increasing the population of hell. Sleeping while Christ's sacrifice on the cross is being neglected and being dishonored. Sleeping while the devil is grinning at your sleeping face, while he and his demons dance around your sleeping spiritual soul, telling it in hell that a Christian is asleep.

Can you picture that? That's a sobering thought. It should be a sobering and a trembling thought that could happen to any of us here. Let me make one thing very clear this morning, and let it be known abroad that you will never catch the devil asleep.

You will never catch the devil asleep. So let the devil not catch you asleep. Remember God's warning in 1 Peter 5 -8 when he tells Christians, be sober, be vigilant. That means don't sleep, don't relax spiritually, don't sleep spiritually.

Why? Because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. So let it be known that you will never catch the devil asleep. And let the devil not catch you asleep.

Well, let me ask you another question here this morning. When is the Christian most likely to sleep spiritually? When is that most likely to occur? Well, a Christian is most likely to sleep to spiritual things, just like it is for us humans when we're doing physical sleep.

But spiritually we're most likely to sleep when his or her earthly life and circumstances are comfortable and pleasant. When life is comfortable and cozy, sort of a cozy bed of sorts, I put it. When life is warm and cozy, you are most likely to sleep, even including a cozy church or a cozy fellowship.

You know, cozy fellowship life, a cozy church, that'll lull you to sleep because it gets you comfortable. In Luke 12, our Lord Jesus spoke a parable, and this is what he spoke. It was about the rich man.