[ Selected ]
In devotions the other night, I read a
little article entitled "You're A Brick." When I got
finished the Lord started bringing Scriptures to my mind and
I am challenged by the thoughts He gave me.
The saying, "You're a brick," came from a story about a
Spartan king named Agesilaus. He was known for being great
and mighty. Like the Queen of Sheba, who visited King
Solomon, a Grecian ambassador decided to visit him. He
expected to see the towns surrounded by great, high walls
and towers to keep off the attacks of the enemy. But he
found none at all.
So, he said to the king: "O King, I have visited the
towns over which you rule and though I have looked, yet have
I seen no walls to defend them against an enemy. I am
amazed."
"Why," said the king, "You have not looked carefully
enough, sir ambassador; come again tomorrow morning, and I
will show you the walls of Sparta."
The ambassador went away more surprised than ever, and
was very curious the next morning when he returned to meet
the king.
Then the king led him down the plains, where his army was
drawn up in full battle array, with their spears and their
shields shining in the sunlight. Pointing to the battle
lines, he said proudly to the ambassador: "There, sir, thou
beholdest the walls of Sparta-ten thousand men, and every
man a brick!" Every man a brick-every man loyal and true,
ready to defend his country and fight for his king.
"...Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls....
For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round
about, and will be the glory in the midst of her." Zechariah
2:4-5. What a wonderful wall of defense to have when the
enemy attacks our soul! "...Thou shalt call thy walls
Salvation, and thy gates Praise." Isaiah 60:18. The only way
to have the Lord as a wall of fire round about us is to have
true salvation, a deliverance from sin in our lives.
Did you know that God has a place in His wall for you?
"For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my
sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take
hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine
house and within my walls a place... Also the sons of the
stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him,
and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every
one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh
hold of my covenant." Isaiah 56:4-6. If I want to be a brick
in the Lord's wall then I must keep His sabbath. What is His
sabbath? Isaiah 58:13 tells us plainly: "If thou turn away
thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my
holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the
Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own
ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own
words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." Isaiah
58:14. To be a brick in the wall of our Lord we must cease
from doing our own pleasure, speaking our own words, and
doing things our own way. We must be fully controlled by the
Lord. "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us
of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come
short of it."
Hebrews 4:1. Oh, are we falling short of that true
sabbath rest because we want our own way? "Because, even
because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and
there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others
daubed it with untempered mortar; Say unto them which daub
it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall:... Therefore
thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy
wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in
mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with
untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, And it
shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof:
and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Thus will I accomplish
my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it
with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, the wall is
no more, neither they that daubed it." Ezekiel 13:10-11,
13-15.
If these people used untempered mortar to daub their
bricks and that was unacceptable, what is tempered mortar?
"Church of God, thou spotless virgin,
Church of
Christ for whom He died,
Thou has known no human
founder,
Jesus bought thee for his bride.
Sanctified by God the Father,
Built by Jesus Christ,
the Son
Tempered by the Holy Spirit,
Like the Holy
Three in One."
If ever we have needed the sanctifying tempering of the
Holy Spirit it is now. If we are not armed with the Holy
Spirit, like that Spartan army was armed, there will be a
hole in the wall and the enemy will sneak in. That happened
in Ezekiel's time and what a lot of evil got through that
hole in the wall.
"And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I
looked, behold a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, Son
of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the
wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold
the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and
saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and
abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of
Israel," Ezekiel 8:7-10. If we read on down further we find
that they were worshipping idols, the sun and some were
crying for Tammuz; believed to be Baal-peor. How sad! And it
was all because there was a hole in the wall. Somebody's
brick was not set in with tempered mortar and it fell out.
Have you been tempered by the Holy Spirit? Has your life
been sanctified and set apart for God's use? Have you ceased
from doing your own self-will? Have you allowed God to place
you in His wall, armed and ready to fight the enemy of the
souls of men?
Let us each one BE A BRICK-loyal and true to the King of
kings, and Lord of lords-a brick that is ready to defend the
gospel and not allow evil spirits to gain an entrance into
our lives, our home, and the Church of God.
Are you a brick? [ The End ]