Standing in the Gap

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. A scripture reading this morning. I would like to turn to Ezekiel chapter 22. I think I'm going to read a part of that passage and my title is taken out of this passage here. [00:00:31] Let me read this. Ezekiel 22, starting in at verse 23. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They have taken the treasure and precious things. They have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law and have profaned mine holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and profane. [00:01:10] Neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood and to destroy souls to get dishonest gain And her prophets have daubed them with untempered borders, seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God When the Lord hath not spoken, the people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy. Yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. [00:01:47] And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord. Now, if you were at Brethren meeting here some time ago, I think Brother Richard read this same passage, and I appreciate this. [00:02:18] First, let's look at some of these things, and this is not really what I'm planning to focus on, but the sins that they were in. Ezekiel is lamenting the state of the people or the children of Israel and I'm sure that much could be said about the sins he's making a list of the sins here I'll just point a few out here the priests had violated the law they made no difference between what was profane and holy [00:02:48] until he said finally that the Lord is profane among them and the prophets were divining lies. They were saying the Lord had spoken. The Lord hadn't spoken at all. And we could go on. We could talk quite a bit about this, but that's not really the thrust of this. These were horrible sins. They were depressing to Ezekiel as he was naming them. And we could even spend some time discussing some things in our own time, [00:03:21] in our own circles that we recognize as coming in. And I don't know if I should even say anything about it at this point, but think about contemporary Christianity or styles and fashions of the world coming in. Or pride, or maybe just simply lukewarmness, just a little bit, just coming in, just the start of things. But what I would like to notice here, especially this morning, is verse 30. [00:03:52] When he says this, And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me, the land that I should not destroy it, but none was found. He couldn't find a man. He couldn't find anybody. And I've taken that to be my title, standing in the gap. And I would like to talk about that at length. He was looking for someone that would build a hedge around them and stand in the gap. It gives the thought that it was a breach where the wall was falling apart. [00:04:28] I think that's what Ezekiel is saying. There's a breach in this wall. There's something wrong. The wall is broken down about us. And I don't think he's using a physical wall, but he's pointing something else out when he says this. And then he goes on and says, there's no one here. There's no one left to stand in the gap. There's no one that would offer spiritual protection to their families. There was not a man there with enough courage to stand up. And where the wall was falling down, to build it back up and also to protect. [00:05:03] Because of the sin that was among them, there was just no power. There's just no power. There wasn't anybody that was awake or alert to the enemy that was coming in and destroying them. Now, I would like to think with you about this a little bit. In the spiritual sense, that hedge, you could liken that to a wall of faithful people. But the breach in the wall is the sin that comes in, that tears that down or creates a crack in the wall. [00:05:41] And I would just like to say this morning, God is calling on us to be faithful men and women, to strengthen that wall. We've all heard the saying that our chain is just as strong as the weakest link. And I think that applies here. You know, the powers of darkness want to infiltrate our wall, that wall that's about us. And if we're sleeping, if we're not watching, the devil comes in ever so carefully, ever so little at a time [00:06:14] Until finally he's in our midst and we just don't have any strength to stand against him You know, if we're asleep, it's useless to even be in front of that breach It's useless to stand in the gap if we're asleep, if we're not alert But you know what? As they needed strong men, men of courage, we need that today the same way. For our churches, our families, we need men that will not run away from the enemy and will recognize the enemy when he's there. [00:06:50] That will protect and save our people. You know, maybe I'm a little hard on the men this morning, but I want this message to be practical for all of us. Married or unmarried, we are somewhere in God's plan, in God's order, and we have a responsibility. Each one of us has a responsibility. It doesn't matter if you're a youth sitting up here in the front benches or you're an old man. We have a responsibility to provide spiritual protection for those that are around us. [00:07:24] I know sometimes life is very difficult. It seems like it's just rough. And I know there's a time that the Bible speaks of a time when men's hearts will fail them. And I think I've come to the point where I almost thought that there's just too much. I just can't. I'm not able. And maybe we feel that way at times. But remember that the power of God within us is much greater than the task ahead of us. [00:07:58] and there is power that we can call upon. And God is looking among us at Rosewood to be spiritual giants, to stand up for truth and to move forward and to watch and protect. He's looking for men and women that are the salt and light of this community, this church, your families, wherever God has placed you. Let's make sure that we don't let him down. Let's be very careful. Let's make sure we're there. [00:08:32] Now, one more thing I think we would do well to notice in this passage, and that is at the very end. And I didn't think about this so much until this morning as I was sitting there reading again. In verse 31, he said, I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath, the fire of my wrath. I don't think there's anyone here that likes to think that the fire of God's wrath is upon me or us. [00:09:09] But we can escape that. We don't need that. We don't. I think many times wrath is judgment. The judgment of God was upon him. We can escape that judgment. I didn't look it up, so I want to be careful. I don't know if that's what it means in the original Hebrew, but it just struck me this morning. If we're not alert, if we're not awake, the wrath of God is upon us. And oh, I don't think any of us would like that. Now, I'm just going to devote the rest of my time up here this morning. [00:09:44] And I would like to look at five different things, qualities of men and women, that men and women have that stand in the gap, that are looking for that breach in the wall, in our church, in our home, wherever that may be. The first one is, and I've already alluded to this, if we are standing in the gap, we are alert. We're watching. We're alert. Didn't Jesus say once, what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch? [00:10:18] I'm thinking we read that in Mark or somewhere that he's saying that. And I don't know if it was Melvin Lehman, but someone here recently pointed out Isaiah 62.6. It reads this way, I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace, day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence. I thought there's at least three different reasons that those watchmen are up there. [00:10:53] The first one is so they can see the enemy approaching. If we are watching, we're alert, we see where Satan is trying to reach in our circles. They were watching. They could see the enemy approach. The second one is so they could warn the people. They were there to warn. Are we here to warn? We need to warn the people. And the third one, of course, is to repel the enemy, to make sure that the enemy doesn't come in. [00:11:24] You know what? If we are standing on our feet for God, we will be watching for those little loopholes. We will be careful. Brother Steve read this verse this morning in 1 Thessalonians 5.14. Now we exhort you brethren to warn them that are unruly We need to warn and I want to be careful There is this thing that we can just be harsh with someone But there is also a compassionate way to warn and help people [00:11:56] Comfort the feeble minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men You know what, we are our brother's keeper, we really are It is our responsibility We are here to alert each other of danger, and while we need to do that, we're also here to encourage each other, and to me that's special. I cannot tell you how many times I have been discouraged, or there's things going on, and a brother or sister just spent just a little bit of time, [00:12:31] Maybe not even asking questions, but just share something. Just encourage me so much. And that strengthens, that builds the wall, that takes care of that gap that's there. Let's remind each other of God's promises to us. Number two, men and women that stand in the gap take responsibility for their past sins. Their past. They take care of it. 1 John 1.9 was mentioned in our Sunday school lesson, or we talked about it, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [00:13:11] And that's something I think we all understand. We hear that people sometimes are a victim of circumstances, or we do things that aren't necessarily our fault, but we are still responsible for what we do, for our actions. And I don't know how you find it. But sometimes it simply takes a lot of courage to just say that I just didn't do it right, I didn't say the right thing, or I said, I just said it wrong, and to just apologize. [00:13:44] But you know what? If we refuse to take responsibility for our past sin, we will not reach our potential for God, and ultimately we will be barred from heaven. It's just that simple. It takes a lot of courage. And I would like to, for this point, I would like to look at Achan's experience in Joshua 7. I'm not going to read the whole thing. We are very familiar with this passage. It deals with hidden sin. [00:14:15] And I think we all know what Achan's sin was. He took the silver and the garment and the wedge of gold. As I was thinking about this this morning, we think Achan was rather foolish in doing what he did. And that wedge of gold doesn't mean a thing to me. And the garment, I have no idea what that, I think, maybe some, maybe I saw it in a commentary or somewhere, but wasn't it a Babylonian garment? [00:14:51] Now, what is our Babylonian garment today? Where's our temptation to take something or to do something? Maybe we were too critical or we think it was foolishness on his part. And in some sense it may have been. But are we tempted to have a garment that says Abercrombie and Fitch across the front? [00:15:22] And I'll just wear it to town and nobody else will see it. Or we'll wear a Tommy Hilfiger maybe. I don't know. That's food for thought. But I had to think about that. Now let's just notice some of the things that happened in Joshua 7. And the first one I would like to notice in verse 5. Uh, if I can lay my eyes on it, because of this hidden sin and he wasn't willing to take care of it, Israel's army was chased out when they tried to overtake or tried to take the city of Ai. [00:16:04] They were paralyzed with fear. They had they could not go forward because of the hidden sin that was lurking behind the scenes and they didn't know about it. You know what? We can't go forward either if we tolerate hidden sin. And I guess it comes down to me as an individual and each one of us here. If we allow that hidden sin to stay there, don't take care of it. The leadership faltered and was confused. Well, let me just look back up to verse 5. It says, Wherefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water. You know what? It cripples us if we allow, if we continue, if we don't take care of hidden sin. And I know this is nothing new to us, but I would like to read just a little bit in Joshua 7, verse 7. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? [00:17:09] Would to God we had been content and dwelled on the other side of Jordan. Because of that hidden sin that was lurking behind the scenes, the leadership faltered. Joshua became discouraged. And isn't it just that way today? I think we have the same God today as they did then. We need to take care of the sin, hidden sin. See, there's something else in here. God said that he would withdraw his presence from them. [00:17:41] I'm not laying my eyes on it. Okay, in verse 12 he says then, Because they were accursed, neither will I be with you anymore except ye destroy the accursed from among you. I don't think there's anyone here that would want to lose the presence of God among us in our midst Christ, if we don't take care of our past sin. And finally, the sin was brought out in the open, and we, of course, know what happened. It's not, we're all familiar with this, but I think it's, we do well to remind ourselves that we are responsible for our past. [00:18:17] We are responsible to take care of those things, those issues that are still back there. And then of course they stoned, it was a horrible death for Achan and his family and they took care of it in a very radical way. But there's one thing I would like to notice beyond that and that is the encouragement that they received from God when they took care of it. And that goes into chapter 8 of Joshua when he said this, [00:18:47] Fear not thou, fear not, neither be thou dismayed. And then it goes on to say what they're supposed to do and how they're going to be victors of this battle that they're in. I think if we look at history, whenever Israel was in right standing with God, then his God's blessing was upon them. And I think we have we experienced the same thing. Maybe it's on a personal level. People don't understand, but I have experienced blessing in just opening up and allowing God, you know, sometimes we think if we, well, if I'm going to get up and confess this sin, what are people going to think about me? [00:19:30] I'm supposed to be this man that's upstanding or we kind of don't want to spoil our image, but you know what? I don't know if I should say this, but real men and women will confess. There is real strength in confessing and just opening up to God. I have found that in my own life and I encourage that here, of course. The third thing that I would like to notice is, or a characteristic of men that stand in the gap, and I should say women, wherever God has placed you, is that we are prayer warriors. [00:20:11] We pray. If we are going to effectively lead our families and encourage our fellow man, we need to be connected to God. It's our only hope if we are going to be effective leaders. If we desire to stand in the gap. The Bible says that we should, I think Steve read this as well, we should pray without ceasing. And I think that's true. I wonder sometimes if there's a lack of power because there's a lack of prayer. [00:20:48] And I'm not saying this critically this morning. I have my duty to do in that as well. You know, prayer connects us to our source of power. Let's remember that. You know, we feel limited. I feel limited sometimes. There seems to be a hunger in this community in a lot of different places. And just simply people that need to relate to other people, especially right now when people are struggling. and sometimes we would like so much to help someone [00:21:22] but we just can't get right to the point and say this because it would be maybe offensive. But remember this, you can get down on your knees and you can, through the power of God, you can touch. As your prayer goes up, his hand can reach down over here in ways that none of us can imagine. Remember that. When we lack that courage, let's get connected to God. Let's make sure that we stay connected. I've also, and this is what we've been talking about already, but the power of intercessory prayer. [00:21:58] I came across a verse in Psalms, and I know that you're all aware of this, but remember the man Moses, he stood in the gap. Psalms, trying to lay my eyes on it, 106.23. The Lord said he would destroy them and then verse 23 says this Therefore he said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them [00:22:28] Moses begged God to save his people And I don't know if this is true or not but you could almost say that Moses because of intercessory prayer in some way changed the course of history. And I don't know if you've ever noticed a family or a church that seemed to be struggling and yet there was someone there that was interceding. [00:23:00] And one person, and I'm not advocating that we have several people that pray. We should all pray. We should all be involved in this. But let me ask you the question, how much time have you spent pleading to God for your family, for your church, maybe for your co-worker? It's very important. You have no idea what God wants to do. And I'm not saying this because I have the answer or I have done it, but I need to do the same thing. [00:23:35] We all need to pray for each other. The fourth thing I would like to notice here is men and women that stand in the gap not only proclaim the truth. You know, it's so easy sometimes, and I'll just admit to you, it's so easy to preach, or I shouldn't say it's easy to preach, but it's easy to say the right thing. It's easy to say, well, there it is, but it's a lot harder to live it out sometimes. And I think if we're truly standing in the gap, we're also living out truth. [00:24:07] That's very important. My mind went to, and we could look at all kinds of, the Bible is full of examples of heroes of the faith and people that stood up for truth and that walked the way and were faithful. My mind went to Daniel when I was studying for this message. And you remember that I think the first clue that we have that Daniel was firm in the stand that he took [00:24:39] was when he purposed in his heart not to eat of the king's meat, I believe. But one thing that stood out to me was when, I think it was King Darius signed that decree that all men should pray to him. And Daniel chapter 6 verse 10 says, Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, Daniel knew in his heart it was a done deal. It was signed. He knew. He went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, [00:25:14] he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime. He kept right on living just the way he did before the decree. We need to stand for truth. It doesn't matter our circumstances. Daniel, I don't know if you find yourselves in, well, we're not in Daniel's position. And truth is, the way it is today under new dispensation isn't the same maybe as it was for him. But remember Daniel was in a strange land with strange people. [00:25:50] Do any of you ever find yourself in a strange position? And it just seems like in this position, it would just seem right to just kind of go with the flow. We don't want to ruffle any feathers. We'll just do what everybody else is doing. But God requires more of us than that. We need to live out truth. Daniel was firm in his commitment. And we face those things. We are under pressure, maybe not to quit praying. In fact, it seems like the world looks to us to pray, but other things. We're under pressure to conform to the world in the way that we dress, in the way that we act, how we conduct our business, and all different aspects of our life. [00:26:41] But I tell you this morning, I think one of the most powerful things that we can do is just to keep on upholding truth. Just keep on. And I think in the end, the world does admire people that are not lost in that shuffle. When we continue to live in humility, dress modestly, it does something. Not only to the world, but to our children and to our churches, to the churches round about us. [00:27:15] And the last one that I would like to notice is the choices that we make. Men and women that are willing to stand in the breach or in the gap are men that make choices based on truth. Based on, not on the circumstances, but on the word. and we stay there. You know, the choices that I make, the way that we conduct ourselves, there's one thing, probably one of the greatest responsibilities that I feel [00:27:47] are that the weight of carrying forth the torch in our generation, we choose how we make choices. To some extent, we have control of our destiny. And if we don't carry forth that torch in our generation, what's going to happen with the next generation? It does make a difference. And we are faced with things. [00:28:19] My mind went to Daniel 3. And again, I'm just going to talk about this, not read it. But you all remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were faced with that fire. The fire was in front of them and it was hot and we all know this story and you know I think all of us face the fire sometimes but you know what when that fire was right in front of them and hot they had to make a choice who they wanted to serve right there and I think we get put on the spot sometimes too. [00:28:57] There's things that they could have said and done. You know, they could have just said that, well, you know, we're going to burn if we don't comply. We'll bow down to the idol and then once we get away from these people, we'll say, well, I'm sorry, God. But, you know, that's not the way this works. They could have made excuses and said that God will understand that. But they didn't. And praise the Lord, they didn't. We have a story to say today because of that. [00:29:29] The other thing is, we meet up with circumstances sometimes, I do sometimes, totally unprepared. I just don't know what to say. But we need to choose, we need to choose to represent truth. I don't know if they had forewarning or not. But the fact is, they chose, they made the right decision, they made the right choice. Not only that, because of their choice, I think if I remember right, the king made a decree that all people should bow down to their God. [00:30:05] We don't, I don't sometimes remember to stand up for truth and how that will affect not only me. You know, we sometimes get to the point where we almost apologize for our position, for the way that we dress and the way that we were taught, I should say. But I don't think we should apologize for that. You know, we have something that is worth having. [00:30:36] And I think we should we should continue to stand there in the gap. As Joshua did, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. As a closing statement, I know that I've been talking about character qualities of men and women. And sometimes it just seems like it's difficult. This road is difficult. And there's just so many obstacles, so many things come up, and there's just not enough strength to keep going. [00:31:09] But there's a couple verses. Jesus, and I know I've shared this quite a few times already and from here, but John 1, verse 12 and 13 are a real encouragement to me, says this, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. I know he's talking about the new birth here but there is one word that I like [00:31:41] that jumps out at me every time I read this and it's that word, power power when we allow God when we receive Him in our hearts and we allow Him to change us from the inside out we have strength we have strength to stand up to the enemy When I say enemies, I'm talking about the powers of darkness that would infiltrate our ranks. It is then God directing our lives. [00:32:12] It's not just something that I do, or it's a power that I have, my own volition, and I keep going on my own strength. But when God is within us, we are able to withstand, to rise above sin, to bring encouragement to our fellow man, to stand in the gap.