08/20/2019 -
Have we been working at completing the repairs to our broken and sinful lives? Have we been sufficiently separating ourselves from the world’s corruption that flails about around us? When Jerusalem was destroyed, and made rubble, it was repaired, and those repairs were not viewed as complete until the wall that protected the city from the world was rebuilt. What is the condition of our wall?
“Next to them Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, repaired, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.”
Nehemiah 3:8 ESV
We live in a world today where we, and the Church, have become complacent in repairing the wall between ourselves, and the worldly institutions. As a matter of fact we, and the Church, have become inclined to listen to the enemy, this has become very apparent today as those who would undo us are telling the Christian Church that the broad wall is no longer needed, and that God views the world and the church as one. This attack is not new... the attempt to undermine the holiness of Christians, and the Church, has been ongoing since Christianity first began. Listen to the words of warning that Jesus speaks...
“And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."”
Mark 7:6-8 ESV
How do we protect ourselves from spiritual attack, especially when that attack can quite often come from within? False prophets are not outsiders, and even the antichrist will come from within our midst. Listen to John as he writes of this, and tells us that one way to rebuild the wall is to be alert regarding lies; even the biggest lie of all... that Jesus isn’t the Christ.
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.”
1 John 2:19, 21-25 ESV
These warnings were necessary in the early days of the Church, they have been made throughout the history of the Church, and are more than needed today. Listen to a similar warning from more recent times...
“The tendency today is to break down the holy barrier and make the difference between the church and the world insignificant. Professing Christians are no longer strict and puritan, questionable entertainment is everywhere, frivolous pastimes are indulged, and a general laxity threatens to deprive the Lord’s people of the sacred distinctions that separate them from sinners.” - Charles Spurgeon
So how do we repair the broad wall around ourselves, and the Church, that was designed to protect us from the world and our enemies? We do so by founding ourselves on the Word of God, discerning truth, looking at the fruit of people claiming to be faithful, and most of all... by making certain that we surround ourselves with true believers in the fact that Jesus is the Christ.
Finally, are we actively repairing the broad wall of our city? Are we rebuilding, through our faith, what was toppled for man in the Garden of Eden, and has remained under constant attack to this very day? Are we moving forward in the strength of God, and not growing weary of the job that is before us?
Father,
Thank you for your Son Jesus Christ, and for making him the corner stone of our lives, and your church. Thank you for the strength and perseverance needed to rebuild the wall that separates us, as holy, from the world. Help us Lord as we bring stones of faith, and truth, to our wall each day. Give us determination, and a clear understanding of your Word, and will as we seek to know you more. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who gives us the gifts we need to do your will, and the determination needed to construct the protective barrier between your Church and those who would undo us. Great is your name, and bold your plan, that redeems the world by grace, and protects your chosen within your walls. Hear our praise, and feel our adoration Father as we worship you now, and forevermore.
Rich Forbes