Invisible Fence
Psalms 32:8,9 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
The only thing keeping society from chaos is a thin line of morality that men and women voluntarily agree to subscribe to. I call that thin line the invisible fence.
In the previous century we have seen society after society where for a season chaos has reigned and there has been no limits to man’s immorality. Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia, Idi Amim’s Zaire, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Milosovic’s Serbia, and the list goes on. There is nothing that really forces us to act as decent human beings other than our conscience, and the intervention of God. So it is in Christianity. God does not force us to obey. But He does erect invisible fences and teach us to stay within proscribed boundaries.
Recently I saw a sign in a yard that said, “Invisible fence, dog in training.” Invisible Fence is a product that is on the market that is highly effective for keeping your dog in your yard simply with the use of sound and training. When the dog gets near the boundaries of your yard an alarm goes off that is inaudible to humans but piercing to dog ears. The sound does not physically prevent the dog from crossing the boundary, only his character and training can. This is the exact same principle upon which the human conscience is built upon. When we come up against the border of right and wrong an alarm goes off, it is only as effective a deterrent as our character allows it to be.
Invisible Fence:
Dog trainers call this obedience training.
Psychologists call it classical conditioning.
In Christianity it is called either demonic bondage or moral character depending on the usage.
It is called demonic bondage when satan and his cronies who have no legitimate power or authority over you as a believer, manage to keep you within their proscribed boundaries simply with smoke and mirrors. That is satan keeps a person in bondage whom the son has set free through the power of lies and noise. When a person tries to get out of bondage satan screams as loud as he can, his voice is only as effective upon us as we allow it to be. “He who the Son sets free is free indeed.” A Christian in bondage is one who voluntarily accepts that bondage, as the following will illustrate:
Illus: Tug boat:
A preacher was flying into an airport that was surrounded by water and saw a tugboat pulling a giant naval vessel in the bay near the airport. Seeing the tiny tugboat pull the great battleship was a curiously odd sight to him. He mused in himself, “I wonder what would happen if the battleship were to fire up its engines and put them into reverse.” He realized that the only reason the tugboat could pull the great battleship was because the battleship “allowed” itself to be pulled. As he thought on that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and told him that it was an apt illustration of God’s children facing temptation. Because we are Christians, and have Jesus in us, we are like the battleship, when we yield to temptation, it is not because we are overpowered, but it is because we have allowed ourselves to be pulled along. 1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Paul in Romans put it this way, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”(Ro. 6:16) Notice he doesn’t speak of the control or domination of either the Spirit or the flesh, but of someone yielding to either of them. We were bound as captives prior to salvation, but now we are new creatures in Christ Jesus. If you are struggling with something as a Christian the only thing holding you is an invisible fence, and the lies of the devil. Who do you choose to believe Jesus or the devil?
Invisible fence is called moral character when God keeps you within His proscribed boundaries simply by speaking to your conscience and that is the only force that restrains you.
Character is what you have, and what you are when you think no one else is looking.
Sometimes we are like the dog sitting in the yard and along comes another dog, who has no sense of right and wrong or moral boundaries, and they want us to come and play with them. What will you do? Righteous dogs stop at invisible fence, because of training and sound reinforcement. Even so we stop at God’s invisible fence because of sound reinforcement ( the “ping” of our conscience) and moral character. We have learned to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway,” (1 Cor 9:27) and in the book of Proverbs it says, that greater is he that ruleth his spirit than he that conquers a city.(Prov 16:32)
Invisible Fences; 2 we should cross; 2 we should not.
Invisible fences we should cross:
1. A reinforced lie, written in out hearts.
Ezra 4:1-5; 23-24
The Jewish temple lay in ruins for over 70 years, and then in the providence of God the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple. As they began rebuilding there was great opposition raised against them by mixed races living in the land and in fear and intimidation they stopped. No mention is ever even made of them praying about their problem they just stopped in their tracks. satan is the great intimidator. Lies, threats, innuendo are tools with which he has stopped many a work in progress. Yet the Bible clearly teaches that we overcome him and not vice versa. 14 years after the work stopped another group of Jews stepped up to the cause, and were not overcome by intimidation but finished the work the first group had left undone. satan had erected an invisible fence and persuaded the Jews that they couldn’t pass it. (The group that succeeded 15 years later was also attacked, but they fought back, and found out the devil’s invisible fences are not all they are cracked up to be.) We as the people of God need to cross with and courage every invisible fence the devil sets up.
Illus: Apes and bananas:
An experiment was carried out at a zoo. 5 apes were in a cage in which a banana was hung from a string. When an ape tried to get the banana he was soaked with a water cannon, and the other four were also soaked. This was repeated until the 5 apes learned to leave the banana alone. 1 ape was taken out and changed for a new one. The new ape tries to eat banana and was attacked by the other 4, for no reason he understood. They attacked him because they didn’t want to hosed with the water cannon. A second ape was taken away and a new one added. When he tried to eat the banana the 3 original apes who knew why not to eat the banana (even though they were no longer soaked, they had become “conditioned”) and the ape who didn’t know why not to eat the banana all attacked the newcomer. 3 Attacked for fear of the water cannon, one attacked because he had be trained by his fellow apes that if anyone tries to eat that banana we all beat on him. This process of removing the original apes continued until all the original apes were gone, but if a new one comes and tries to eat banana he is attacked, no one knows why, except that everyone knows you can’t eat that banana. Mental attitudes and strongholds like this spring up in individuals, families, and churches. It is amazing how hard it is to sometimes try a new thing because of a reinforced lie.
2. A line in the sand, drawn by the devil.
Iron Chariots.
Judges 1:19 “And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.” Do you notice the irony of this text? God was with them but they couldn’t drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had chariots of iron?! What is God only good for you if you are fight footmen, but chariots and horsemen are too big for God? God forbid! It is saying why they didn’t defeat them from “their,” perspective. This passage reminds me of Peter walking on water. When he saw the wind and waves he feared and fell. Tell me something, do you think it is any easier to walk on water on a clear and sunny day, than it is on a windy day? The weather is irrelevant to walking on water for no mater what it takes a miracle to walk on water. The problem here is with a demonic invisible fence that says we can cross only at satan’s designated spots. We can win little battles but not big ones. This is a lie, pure and simple. Remember:
Pharaoh had an armed army.
Jericho had a great wall.
Moses had two million people and no water.
That they had iron chariots should have been irrelevant. It is like the church saying we can beat the devils who only have pea shooters, but the ones with swords we don’t stand a chance against. If God be for us who can be against us? You might argue that there is nothing invisible about that fence, that there was no smoke and mirrors involved but it was a real bondage. Bondage yes but the smoke and mirrors comes in the fact that the Jews were led to believe that the problem was with the iron chariots, when the problem was that they didn’t believe God would give them the strength to do what He commanded them to do. They followed God in the things that were easy and convenient, but in the hard things they chickened out.
What is especially sad is that the devil himself knows that we are more powerful than him, but that he is able to effectively keep people in bondage through the power of a lie. Exodus 1:9,10a “And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them;...”
Invisible fences we should not cross.
1. The boundaries of proper worship.
An improper measuring stick.
1 Kings 3:3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
1 Kings 15:14 But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa’s heart was perfect with the LORD all his days.
2 Kings 12:2,3 And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him. But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
2 Kings 14:1-4 In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah. He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did. Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places.
The fact that this sin is continually brought before our notice as the one failing in the lives of some outstanding men of God, ought to make us who want to live for God stand up and pay attention.
This is the invisible fence in which most committed Christians don’t realize they have crossed, it is the sin of serving God on my terms and then being happy about it. Solomon and the others felt that since their motives were right, they were worshipping God, what was the big deal that it wasn’t in the temple? The big deal was that God had said they were not to worship in the high places, and that they were to worship in the temple. The core of the matter is: whose opinion is to be followed, and on what basis do men overrule God and His decrees. We must follow God in all things, not just the ones we agree with Him on. The predominant sin in the book of judges is that, “there was no king in Israel, every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Beloved we are not to do what is right in our own eyes but what is right in the eyes of the Lord. God tells us how to worship, what to give, what sacrifice is acceptable. His decrees are an invisible fence of truth, the passages in Kings show that good men often disregard God’s decrees, doing what they, “feel,” is right. It is not what you feel that matters, it is what God says. You may not feel like tithing. You may not feel like praying. You may not feel like forgiving. You may not feel like submitting. This has to do with the Lordship question. Who is Lord of your life? Your feelings or the revealed will of God?
Illus: Genesis 4:4,5. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
God is the one who determines what is acceptable in terms of giving. Some people today would have a serious problem with animal sacrifice, and would think to enlighten God on the matter. After all, what is wrong with a vegetable offering? What’s the big deal God, Cain was only trying to please you? Yes, he was, but he was trying to please God on his terms not God’s terms. Vegetable sacrifices makes sin less expensive to take care of. Abel killed a living animal, probably one that even had a pet name. It hurt, and it cost dearly to do so. Blood is more expensive then tomatoes. Illus: Chicken and a pig decided to have breakfast, chicken said, “I’ll give an egg you give some ham. Pig said, “you are going to give an offering but you are asking commitment out of me. ”(Ham was very costly to the pig) Man is always making sin less of a big deal then God is. When Abel slit the animals throat he was acutely aware of the serious consequences of sin. Growing tomato and bringing it to God doesn’t convey the same lesson. Why make Adam die? What is the big deal? Why couldn’t God just pardon him, and say I forgive you? Every sin and sickness in this world today, came to us through Adam, that is the big deal. Sin is serious. Sin is to be viewed from God’s perspective not ours.
Hear this and hear this well, ye who would have God’s favor: “And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.” God has placed invisible fences over what constitutes true worship, what is right and wrong, how we are to live to please Him, etc. There is a chorus that goes, “I’ll say yes, Lord, yes, to Your will, and to Your way...” God doesn’t beat people into agreeing with Him, it is a voluntary thing. The only thing that keeps you in the truth is your sensitivity to the importance of God’s fences of behavior, truth, and morality. Don’t cross that invisible fence!
2. The path God would have us walk in.
Psalms 32:8,9 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
This invisible fence requires that we recognize that just because God didn’t put a wall in our way, doesn’t mean it’s OK to go there. He will guide us with His eye. In other words we are to know Him and His ways, and His boundaries so well, that He will be able to instruct us with nonverbal communication. Just a glance, just a whisper, just a nod in a certain direction, and we are to know where we can and where we can’t go. God will let you commit adultery, or watch a filthy movie if you want to, although He will make His objections known. God doesn’t keep by force, but by voluntary submission. “Take my will and let it be wholly consecrated, Lord to thee.” Needs to be our constant prayer.
Close: The boundaries of the devil are to be crossed the boundaries of God are to be strictly maintained. Pray that God will help you to break through any false boundaries set up by the devil, and that He will help you to always stay safely in His borders.
