The Night Is Far Spent; It Is Time To Awake Out Of Sleep, For Now Is Our Salvation Nearer Than When We Believed - Part 1488

"Awake to righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame ..." (II Corinthians 15:34)

We live in tumultuous times and for many, their hearts will fail because of fear. However, for those who believe in Jesus by faith, and accept His perfect sacrifice on the cross as His gift of salvation to us, we can remain joyful knowing that our Lord God and Saviour has provided the perfect hiding place for those who seek Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.

As the psalmist said, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want!" (Psalm 23:1)

We begin to understand the difference from a well known example in the scriptures, wherein a storm came out of nowhere, and the disciples (in a boat) became scared for their lives. In that situation, Jesus (who was with them on the boat) had fallen asleep. In the confusion, His disciples woke Jesus so that He could calm the storm. A much less known part of this example occurs just after Jesus fed the five thousand.

"And straightway, He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while He sent away the people. And when He had sent them away, He departed into a mountain to pray. And when [evening] was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land. And He saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night He comes unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit and cried out -- for they all saw Him, and were troubled. And immediately He talked with them, and saith unto them, "Be of good cheer. It is I; be not afraid."

And He went up into the ship, and the wind ceased, and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves; for their heart was hardened And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew Him  ... and [those who heard that Jesus had come] ran through that whole region round about and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard He was.

And whither so ever He entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch if it were but the border of His garment, and as many as touched Him were made whole." (Mark 6:45-56)

In the scriptures, we see that Jesus often withdrew Himself into the wilderness to pray. (Luke 5:16) And yet, when He came into the village(s) and cities, whither they went and "He made as though He would have gone further" the people expected Jesus to stay and abide with them. (Luke 24:28) The man sick of the palsy lying on the bed and Jesus seeing the people's faith heals the man, Or the woman whose daughter was now dead but knew in her heart that Jesus could make her live. (Matthew 9:2, 20) These miraculous transformations, with many more astonished, saying, "He hath done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." (Mark 7:37)

But even with the miracles of mending the hearts of the broken hearted, and setting free those in bondage, and healing those who were sick, and raising the dead back to life, the disciples still did not take hold of the Master who would soon lay down His life for them.

And, as we see in the case of the ship wherein the Lord saw them toiling with rowing, and the winds that placed them in the midst of the sea, the disciples still did not recognize Jesus for who He was. Indeed, they saw "a" spirit on the water but not "the One and Only Spirit" of Jesus who desired to fill their hearts with His love.

Mark elaborates, telling of another time when the disciples had not taken bread with them on the boat.

"And the [disciples] reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread." And when Jesus knew it, He saith unto them, "Why reason ye because ye have no bread? Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? And do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up" The disciples said unto Him, "Twelve." "And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?" And they said, "Seven."

And Jesus said unto them, "How is it that ye do not understand?" (Mark 8:14-21)

We should be asking ourselves this very same question -- "How is it that ye/we do not understand? Why are we tossed to and fro by the traditions of men that are centred in the earthly, when we know the truth lies of salvation can only be found in Jesus? Why don't we know how much Jesus (who is King of kings and Lord of lords) wants to give us so much more according to our measure of faith?

Oh, if we wold only take hold of the Lord Jesus by faith, becoming clothed in His righteousness (through water baptism in His Name). (Acts 2:36-47)

Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." (John 14:6) And this same Jesus will not forsake us or leave us comfortless for He will come unto us. But too often, like the disciples, we leave Jesus looking around the room grieving because of the hardness of our hearts. (Mark 3:5) Upbraided because of our unbelief because we doubt them which had seen Him after He was risen. This needs to change.

We need to shed the earthly for the spiritual. We need to take hold of the good news gospel of Jesus Christ and proclaim Him as both our Lord and Saviour. Indeed, we should be stretching forth our hand to the Lord in thankfulness and praise for His mercy and love that surpasses all human understanding. And in the midst, pray without ceasing with a heart of humble gratitude for the many blessings that the Lord bestows upon us day in and day out. Rejoicing evermore.

As an aside, today's writing may appear to be all over the place but there is one underlying thread that I would like to leave with you this day. It is difficult enough dealing with the trials and tribulations that the world throws at us. But like the disciples in the storm (who did not yet know from whence cometh their salvation) we need to begin looking beyond the storm, taking hold of the Lord Jesus in everything we do.

In other words, we need in our hearts to become more like the man with the withered hand who watched Jesus to see whether He would heal him on the sabbath day, recognizing that this was the day wherein his life would change forever. (Mark 3:1-5)

We cannot continue to be bogged down by the cares of this world. We need to stop allowing the woes of this world to consume us with burdens intended to take us away from the glorious goodness and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why? Because the world is changing and seemingly not for the better. As the scriptures remind us, the night is far spent! Thus, it is time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation much nearer than when we first believed. If you are finding yourself still in the land of decision, I pray that you choose Jesus, for in Him alone will you find life.

Stand in the offering plate.