Are You In, Out, or In Between
Isaiah 22:20-25
In the passage for our sermon we see that God is going to fasten Eliakim as a nail in a sure place. And with him fastened in the sure place they will hang upon him many things. Then God will remove him from the sure place and the burden that is hanging upon him will be cut off.
We will use this passage to make a spiritual application between the nail and a saved person. Every saved person should be fastened in a sure place and allowed to be used of the Lord. Many people get saved and never get fastened in a sure place. But many times through discontentment, disappointment, offenses or maybe just being burned out the nails (saved people) work themselves loose and pull out of the sure place. They think it doesn’t matter but they for get the burden that is hanging on them.
Three things we learn from this application of the nail:
1) Every nail needs a sure place (verse 23)
- A good bible believing church that preaches and teaches a KJB is a sure place and every saved person should find one.
- In Acts 2:42 we see an example of what should be I a sure place; The right doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. We can learn a lot from this list.
- Doctrine defines what you believe. What you believe from the word of God is what will keep you fastened in a sure place when the storms of life are raging.
- Many have no real idea of what they believe because Doctrine has been neglected or removed from many churches today. When you remove Doctrine all that is left is fellowship, eating bread, and prayer. These are important but with our doctrine they will not keep you fastened.
2) You must be fastened in the sure place (verse 23)
- In 1 Corinthians 16:13 people stood fast in the faith. Then note that some became addicted to the ministry of the saints 1 Corinthians 16:15.
- We are all addicted to something, but imagine if we could get addicted to church and the ministries that are going on there.
3) Someone is depending upon you (verse 25)
- When the nail is removed something in the structure is weakened.
- No matter how insignificant that you think you may be, someone is depending upon you.
- Note how Paul worded this thought in 1 Thessalonians 3:6-8.
The question we must answer is, are when in, out, or somewhere in between?