Some time ago an express train ran into a commuter train at Windsor Bridge, Manchester in England. No one was seriously injured though the line was blocked for six hours. On the express train was a doctor sleeping soundly right through the accident. When the guard woke him, his first question was: “Who put out the light?" Glancing up, he saw that the roof of his compartment was missing.
Another passenger was found fast asleep in his berth some hours after the damaged train had been shunted at Pendleton. As a newspaper reporter wrote, "It is wonderful what some people will sleep through!" It certainly is. Some people have been fast asleep all their lives— spiritually asleep. They sleep on, unconscious of their need, their danger and the serious consequences of the sins that they have committed.
God has spoken to them. Trouble has been allowed to come to them: sickness, bereavement, business difficulties, financial loss, disappointments, family trials—all these have been sent to wake them. Still they sleep on.
Earthquakes shake the world; man's great systems go crashing into nothingness; the coming of the Lord draws near, but still they sleep and dream of peace and prosperity and good times to come. Terrible sleep! Fatal slumber!
No doubt you are wide awake to your interests in this life, but at the same time you may be fast asleep to the great realities of eternity.
Some people talk in their sleep. Talking during physical sleep is common; talking during spiritual sleep is even more frequent. One person says he is going to turn over a new leaf, and try to live a better life. He is "talking in his sleep."
Another declares that he has never done any particular harm, and therefore supposes that it is all right with him. He, too, is "talking in his sleep."
A third tells us that though we may be traveling by various routes, we are all aiming for the same goal, and that it does not matter what a man believes as long as he is sincere in that belief. Another instance of "talking in one's sleep."
Are you awake, really awake, to your need of salvation? Can you say, "I know I am awake. I know where I am going—I am on my way to heaven, a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus!"
Or are you, like the sleeping passengers on the train, still asleep and unconscious of your position? Time is passing—life is passing—there is no time to lose. WAKE UP!