Sandbag

Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of Scripture, but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.

Many years ago when I was in Flagstaff Arizona, there was a torrential rainstorm. I drove through some of the deepest water I’ve ever been in, and I actually thought the car was going to stall. But just recently, while Andrew and I were visiting a neighbor in town, she took a moment to show me some pictures that she had taken with her cell phone. Her relatives have a cabin somewhere up by Rainy Lake that she frequents quite often. But the pictures that she showed me appeared more like a houseboat than a home. It was completely surrounded by water, and inaccessible by car. The water had risen so high, that they had to make their own seawall out of sandbags, to prevent water from coming into the house. 

This reminds me of the Christian Life.

Most people want to protect their homes during a flood, and in the church, we must do the same thing. We must keep out the flood of iniquity by building our own seawall. Before sin has an opportunity to trickle into the church, we need to plug the hole with another sandbag of Truth.

Matthew 7 ¹³ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: ¹⁴ Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The more tolerant that people become of sin, the wider the gate becomes. The path to Kingdom of heaven is very narrow, but many false apostles and false prophets preach a much wider version of the gospel. They preach inclusivity and tolerance rather than rebuking and correcting sinful behavior. Instead of standing in opposition to sinful activity in the church, they embrace it, opening their doors to a flood of ungodliness. It only takes one small hole in a dike to destroy an entire community. It only takes one small weed, to produce many others of its own kind.

1 Corinthians 5 ⁶ Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? ⁷ Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: ⁸ Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

To purge means to remove something bad or unwanted. The church is supposed to be a place of purity, as we cleanse ourselves from the sinful nature. This means we must prevent sin from entering, and to disassociate ourselves from others who display open impenitence towards the will of God.

2 Corinthians 6 ¹⁴ Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? ¹⁶ And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

¹⁷ Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, ¹⁸ And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Sin is the enemy of a true Christian, and like a soldier who stands guard, we must prevent it from entering and influencing the church. Just a little bit of sin can turn into a giant problem, affecting not just a few, but many people within the church. Rather than tolerance, people must stand up for the truth, having no fellowship with wicked works.

Ephesians 5 ¹¹ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. ¹² For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. ¹³ But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

Church fellowship requires turning away from darkness, and walking in the light. 

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

The more you look around, the more you can see a false form of Christianity rising. It is a religion without repentance. It iis a faith without fidelity. It is the appearance of the Church of Babylon, who open their doors wide to the impenitent, and fellowship with the wicked.

Psalms 26 ⁴ I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. ⁵ I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

How many parents would actually put up with one of their children hurting their sibling? Would they tolerate it? Would they allow it to continue, or would they step in to do something about it? When things are wrong, they need to be rebuked and corrected, especially within the church. If it’s not nipped in the bud, the problem can grow worse. Many times these false prophets don’t say anything at all. They want to keep the church group together in order to keep money flowing into the offering plate. Just like Judas, the root of all evil is found in many places of church leadership. We must purge ourselves from those who choose to live in sin.

2 Timothy 2 ²⁰ But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. ²¹ If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

How many of you have had one of your children playing out in the mud? When my children were young, they would make mud pies out in the backyard, and pretend to cook them in their toy oven. Kids get pretty dirty when they do these things. But if they walked into your nice clean home, what would your response be? Would you allow them to walk through your clean living room or sit on the couch? Most parents would march them right out the front door until they cleaned themselves up. You don’t like mud in your house, and you shouldn’t like sin in the church! People who refuse to repent need to be marched out the front door in an effort to keep the church pure.

When you think about it, the church is similar to Noah’s ark, filled with people who are preparing for God’s coming judgment. We don’t open up the door during the flood because it will sink the ship; and we must not open the door of the church to sinful behavior. 

The church needs to be kept pure. Sin must be kept out. As long as you’re right there, maybe you would be kind enough to reach over and hand me another…..

……Sandbag

Let’s think about these things for right now.  We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc  where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️

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