Lions, snakes, and walls
Robbery is stealing from a person using force or suggesting force will be used. (Roaring lion)
Theft means taking someone’s property but does not involve the use of force. (Deceptive serpent)
Burglary means illegally entering a property in order to steal property from it. (Broken walls)
Robbery (Roaring lion): Peter warns “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8). A lion’s roar alone cannot harm; the harm comes only when the prey fails to take warning. “Be alert!” says Peter. “Abstain from all appearance of evil” writes Paul “reject every kind of evil,” as the NIV has it. (1 Thess. 5:22)
Theft (Deceptive serpent): “Hath God said…” hissed the snake… so alluring, so entwining, until he tightens, chokes, slays! Satan seeks to cause doubt, to delay, to be idle. When we doubt, we stall. When we stall, we coast. When we coast, we crash! Hear his deceptive hiss? Run, lest like Judas, you betray Christ by a kiss!
Burglary (Broken walls): When Nehemiah enquired of Hanani and others regarding the Jewish remnant and Jerusalem they told him “The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” (Neh. 1:3). Nehemiah wept, mourned, fasted and prayed. A city left so exposed was wide open for burglary.! The same is true of a believer who has lost self-control: “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” (Prov. 25:28).
Roaring lion… Deceptive serpent… Broken walls…
The warning of scripture is indeed clear “…evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13). John concurs and urges believers: “…many antichrists have come… But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth… see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.” (1 John 2:18, 20, 24).
Stay alert. Know the Truth. Walk wisely.
More tomorrow…
To hear this past Sunday’s message, go to the Facebook page of Lincoln Baptist Church, or link to the livestream from the church website.
thebrokenrunner 