Introduction.
In this study tonight we will notice several Biblical instances where the walls
came down. We hope to accomplish several points in this lesson.
1. The necessity of the walls coming down.
2. The appearance or impossibility of it happening
3. The application of the lessons in our personal lives.
Body:
Our first appearance of walls coming down is found in the Book of Joshua. As
the children of Israel entered the promised land, they came upon a well fortified
city. Jericho was a mighty city with huge walls. As the children of Israel approached,
the inhabitants of the city prepared to defend it. You can imagine their perplexity
when the Israelites marched around one time and left. After six days, this process
was probably getting on the annoying side more than anything else. The people
of Jericho knew that there was absolutely no way that anyone could climb the
walls and overcome them. Yet we see that the confidence of the people was in
the walls and not in God. Thus the wall became their own destruction.
Our second appearance happens many years later in the land of Assyria. The great
city of Ninevah was a marvel of the world and its engineering would astound
anyone who studied it as well as anyone who physically saw it. While the city
was in a period of prosperity and greatness, a prophet of God said that in a
few short years in a very short campaign, that the walls would be breached and
the city destroyed. Nahum was laughed at for making such predictions, yet in
a few years it actually happened. What is so amazing is when we read of the
details involving this great city and how the walls were brought down. Once
again, the people put their trust in the walls to protect them, and they were
not prepared when the walls were destroyed.
Our third instance that we want to mention is the destruction of the great city
of Babylon. There has probably never been a city so well built, protected, maintained,
and admired in all of human history. They had a wall that was so large, that
it just boggles the mind to comprehend it. Imagine a twenty story building that
wrapped continously around a city the size of Houston, Texas. Along this great
wall were watch towers which rose another one to two hundred feet. It is no
wonder that Nebuchadneezer was filled with pride when he looked at what he had
done. (recorded in Daniel 4). Once again the walls were the downfall of the
people. They had so much security and trust in those walls that they only put
a handful of guards to keep watch. The rest of the people enjoyed their festivals
(a different one each week). In one particular feast, the king saw a hand writing
on the wall. Daniel came forth to announce that the kingdom of Babylon was over.
Daniel records in Chapter 5 that at the very moment Daniel was speaking, the
Medes were entering the city underneath the wall in a waterway. The guards were
quickly captured and it is reported that the king was the only casualty in that
encounter. The Medes were not interested in the upkeep of the city and let it
go into ruins. As time went along, the walls were broken and torn down, never
to be built up again.
The next city we want to study is Jerusalem. We read in the book of Jeremiah
of the terrible conditions of Jerusalem when Nebuchadneezer surrounded the city
and cut off its supply lines. Once again, we see that the people had too much
pride to see that a real danger existed. They thought that they were beyond
defeat because of their great walls surrounding them. They did not consider
that God would turn against them as He promised them he would.
The next wall under consideration is read about in the New Testament. This was
not a physical wall, but a spiritual one. Meeting the objective of our sermon
goals we will see the necessity of this wall coming down. and who was responsible
for it happening.
Read the text in Eph 2:11-16. Notice v.14 carefully. Jesus broke down the barrier
of the dividing wall.
A wall is put up to keep out those who are not welcome and to protect and keep
those who are invited in. We all have confidence in our own dwelling places.
We feel a sense of security. When someone is robbed, their life seems to be
shattered, because they feel violated in some way. What is to be a place of
safety where you relax your guard and rest from your labors, can become a place
of insecurity if someone invades or breaches the confines of that wall.
Conclusion.
The last wall that needs to come down is the one that you have built up between
you and God. If you think that building a wall will keep Him from seeing you,
you are wrong. If you think that building a wall will keep Him out, you are
wrong. If you think that a wall will protect you in judgement day, you will
be lost. Where we place our trust in most cases turns out to be our downfall.
Every one of these citys and religions mentioned tonight relied upon the walls
and not upon God.
Now, are you willing for your walls to come tumbling down?
Invitation.
By Carey Scott
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