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Making a Difference By Standing

By Dr. Tom Walker

McDowell Countytom walker mcdowell county Zion Hill Baptist Church

 

Ezek 22:29-31 says: “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. 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, I have poured out mine 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 God.”

The “hedge” had been broken down in Israel. It was the transgressions of the people that caused this to happen. They had transgressed the law and forsaken justice.

God was looking for one who would restrain them from sinning and reform them so they could set a good example for the people to follow. The nation needed a good man who would use his influence to stop sin and the consequences it would bring.

There were good men in the land but finding one who would stand for what is right under all circumstances was difficult to find. Something we call “backbone” is something that is difficult to find in the average person. Man often chooses the easiest way out instead of the best way to go. That best way may come with difficulty, resistance, and opposition, but always choose the best way, which is always God’s way and the Bible’s way. When I first read this Scripture, concerning standing in the gap, I said to myself, “I want to be that man.”

Making up the hedge is coming between a sinful, suffering people and their offended God. The prophets were to entreat God for mercy so that He might not destroy the land. God when offended, can pour out his indignation upon a land and a people. “Indignation” is translated two other ways in our KJV Bibles, that being, “angry” and “rage.” That word speaks of God’s displeasure with sin.

There are so many anti-God ideas and practices in our society today. It is the sin and rebellion of man that creates “the gap” the Bible talks about. Our generation is much like Israel was, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). Your ideas and standards are not the measuring stick to determine right and wrong, but what the Bible says is the way to determine right and wrong. We are not to let our conscience be our guide but the infallible, inerrant Word of God which is settled in Heaven.

How are we to stand as believers and God’s representatives in this present world?

Stand in the Power of God

I Cor.2:5 says, “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” The best way to stand in a wicked and sinful generation, is to do so in the power of God. When we speak of standing and being spiritually successful in our everyday lives,

there must be an enabling beyond ourselves, to stand in the gap and make up the hedge.

It is a wonderful thing that God’s power and strength are available to His people. God does not just have high expectations for us, but the Lord has made it possible for us to stand under whatever conditions which we face. How is that possible? We can remain firm in our stand for the right because God has given us the Holy Ghost to empower us inwardly. The Bible says, “But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Power refers to an enabling and a strengthening.

Always remember that “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world” (I John 4:4).

When you are weak, God Almighty can make you strong.

Stand in the Gospel

I Cor. 15:1 says, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand.” We are never to think society has outgrown the Gospel of Christ. What was true in Paul’s day is also true in our day. Never let someone convince you the gospel Paul the Apostle preached is out of date and not pertinent to our generation.

The good news is that Jesus came to this world, was crucified for our sins, and was buried, but that He arose in glorious resurrection power. After Jesus arose, he was seen by hundreds of people.

There are many folks today who seem to think everyone is going to Heaven when they die. It doesn’t matter to them how much sin a person commits, they are universalists, and they believe everyone will be in Heaven.

Christ refuted that idea when He said, “Except ye be born again, ye cannot enter the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Religion is not enough to qualify a person to enter Heaven, one must have a spiritual birth to take place to gain entrance to the city of God.

Let’s never be guilty of compromising the Gospel of Christ because, in its purity, it is a saving, redeeming message.

Stand in the Faith

In I Cor. 16:13 God’s Word says, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” This verse is not so much about personal faith, although we must have faith,

it points us to the body of faith, the Bible which we stand upon. It is a reference to the “faith once delivered unto the saints” in Jude 3. According to Jude, we are to earnestly contend for that faith. To “earnestly contend” means to struggle or fight for something; it is translated in other places as fight and strive.

You can be sure the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It is God-breathed and divinely origination. Men wrote it down but they “spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet.1:21).

None of us are always right, but rest assured the Bible is. When the Bible speaks there should be no unbelief in reference to what it says. If we will only absorb our lives with the Word of God, there will be sufficient motivation to stand for the faith, even when there is strong resistance to it. Psalms 119:89 says, “Forever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in Heaven.”

A person may reject what the Bible says and teaches, but the day will come when they will regret the stance they took.

We do not need new truth today, instead, we need to believe what was given unto our forefathers and has been handed down and preserved for us. For many reasons, I believe that is the King James Version of the Bible.

 Stand Against Satan’s Wiles

               Eph.6:11 tells us to “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” We are not to give up in the face of an intense spiritual battle.

What are we to stand against? Note the “wiles” of the devil. “Methodiah” is the Greek New Testament word for “wiles” and it has reference to the methods or the trickery of the devil. He has many tricks in his bag of deceitful things, so the Christian must be aware of what tricks Satan uses to accomplish his aims and purposes. Examine the defensive and offensive weapons the child of God has available to stand against our enemy Satan. Some of those weapons are loins girt with truth, feet shod with the gospel of peace, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the Word of God, and prayer.

Stand Fast in Unity

Phil. 1:17 instructs us with the following words: “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ; that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”

              Note the words, “standfast in one spirit” and “striving together.” God’s people are to be in unity and stand together. The old expression, “United we stand, divided we fall” is still true. That is not just so in the secular world, it is true among Christians and churches.

If we expect our churches to have the desired effect upon our society, we need to be in unity of spirit in the church. Divided churches fail to make progress, are a disgrace to Almighty God, and turn lost people away from the church. Most people do not want turbulence in the church, they want calm and peace.

Where there is no unity, the Spirit of God is grieved or vexed. When He is grieved,

it hinders his work in the church. Let’s stand fast and having done all to stand, still be standing!

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Dr. Tom Walker is President of Foothills Bible College and Pastor of Zion Hill Baptist Church in Marion, NC. You can read more good Christian News from Dr. Walker HERE.

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