Sermon Central
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Fox Hunting
Contributed by Craig Benner on Apr 25, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: There are little foxes out there that are detrimental to our relationship with the Lord. The church is the bride and Jesus is the groom. There are some things that we need to deal with to keep our relationship strong and healthy.
Little Foxes
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
take = dominate, seize, catch, hunt
A fox is a relatively small animal. It looks kind of cute. It is considered to be shy. Normally it comes out a night. But it can be very sly.
The order is not to make a pet of the fox, nor allow it friendly access, much less make a compromise with him.
It appears that the groom is giving counsel to his bride to not allow the little foxes to enter and threaten the relationship between bride and groom. The grapes were always a special item at weddings and were an integral part of the occassion.
I. A Little Covetousness
Desiring something that God has deemed off limits for you.
One of the Ten Commandments.
Exo. 20:17
Col. 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
lust = covet
II. A Little Selfishness
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.
36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?
37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.
Pr 16:2 ¶ All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.
Pr 16:25 ¶ There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
III. A Little Flare of Temper
Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath
Pr. 16:32
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
Pr. 22:24
Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
IV. A Little Sabbath Breaking
We refer to it as the Lords' Day. A day set apart. We take extra time to go to the house of God. We refrain from the pleasures and tasks that we partake in the other six days of the week. God also called it a day of rest.
Ex 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Isa 58:13 ¶ 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:
V. Familiarity
Don't allow the holy and sacred become common.
Titles: brother, sister, pastor--or do we get so cozy that we decide to use first name tags in church functions.
What about our manner of dress in church?
How about our casualness in the tabernacle?
1Th 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
1Co 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
communications = companionship
