Trimming Our Hedges — E.A. Johnston

When I was in high school, my family lived next door to Mr. Dixon. I used to like to stop and visit with Mr. Dixon. He was a friendly old man, and you could always find him with a hedge trimmer in his hand, as he was always trimming his perfectly manicured hedge, which stood six feet tall and ran the length of his driveway.

One of the reasons I like to talk to Mr. Dixon was I found out that he was a retired professional football player. He played pro ball for Detroit in the 1950s, before football players drew big salaries.

He told me the most he ever made as a professional football player was $20 ,000 a year, which I guess was a lot in the 1950s, where you could buy a house for that. But I'll always remember old Mr. Dixon standing there in his overalls, working on his hedge that he took such pride in.

It was a thing of beauty. But one day, Mr. Dixon had a heart attack, and he couldn't trim his hedge anymore. Little by little, his hedge became raggedy-looking, as the hired workers who trimmed it did not love the hedge like he did.

The Spiritual Hedge and God's Protection

Finally, Mr. Dixon died, and the hedge never looked the same again. As a Christian, we can apply the principle of trimming our spiritual hedge. We see in the book Job that God keeps a hedge around his own.

God's Hedge Around Job

In Job chapter 1, we read about a conversation taking place between God and Satan. As it concerns Job, in verses 6 through 10, we read, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job?

That there is none like him in the earth, a perfect hand, an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil. Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?

That thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. In this striking passage of Scripture, we see how God places a hedge around his own, and that's what I want to talk about today, friends.

But Job did no evil to lower the hedge of protection that was around him. He did not send that hedge down. God opened a hole in it for his purpose and for his glory. But I believe that a believer, if he or she is not careful, can impact that spiritual hedge in a home by presumptuous and willful sin.

The title of my message today, friends, is Trimming Our Hedges. Well, how can we trim our hedges and maintain a close walk with God? By staying in constant touch with him through our daily devotional life, through our daily life lived under the discipline of the Holy Spirit for him, by abiding in him like Jesus talks about in John 15 5, where he declares, I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him.

A Virtuous Woman and the Hedge of the Home

The same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing. As trimming a hedge is important to its aesthetic beauty, our walk with God is vital to our spiritual health. Proverbs 30 is a passage that describes how a Christian wife can trim the hedge of her home.

In this passage speaks of the blessings of a virtuous woman, but over in Proverbs 14 1, we see the opposite is true where that same woman can tear the hedge down. Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

I believe this speaks about how willful, personal sin can be destructive to a home in tearing down that hedge that God had set up. I believe if we give place to the devil in our home through willful sin, then we are tearing a hole in that hedge to let the enemy in.

Presumptuous Sin Gives the Devil a Foothold

Oh friends, I wish you could believe me when I say that we can let the devil into our home by committing certain willful sins. We must be careful what we let into our homes, what we watch, what we do.

One presumptuous sin is a hole in the hedge and a stake in the ground for the evil one to come take some territory. My Bible says time after time this is so. Proverbs 12 13 says the wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips.

Proverbs 12 21 declares, but the wicked shall be filled with mischief. If we give place to the devil in our personal lives, then we are letting the devil through the hedge to our family. I'll give you an example of this friends.

A Christian Leader's Fall into Adultery

I used to have a friend who was one of my biggest inspirations to me, but then he became one of my biggest warnings. He was a Christian leader at my church and this man loved to talk about Jesus. Every time you were with him, he would talk about the verse of Scripture he had learned in his quiet time with the Lord that day.

He made you thirsty for Jesus. This man was a salesman and after a while he started getting real successful and he made six figures a year. But when you'd see him, he no longer wanted to talk about Jesus.

He just wanted to talk about making money and how we spent it a little by little. This man quit trimming his spiritual hedge and one day he hired a pretty young secretary half his age and it wasn't long after that he was having an affair on his wife of 20 years with this young secretary.

It wrecked his marriage that ended in divorce and it wrecked his home. He had stopped taking care of his hedge, so to speak, and let the devil in through willful sin. Satan ran all over this man's family and ruined one of his kids.

The Danger of Playing With Fire

Now I say all that friends because it may be some of you are playing with fire like that man. You have stopped trimming your hedge and by playing with fire it can be dangerous because my Bible says can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?

Vigilance Against the Devil's Attacks

Of course not. Satan still goes to and fro around the earth looking to trip up servants of God through sin. The Apostle Peter warns us about the failure of trimming our hedge and letting our guard down.

He says be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil has a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. Listen friend, that devil is a lion and he'd like nothing better than to devour you that church friend of mine who fell into adultery with a secretary will always be a warning to me that if we are not busy in the work of the Lord and constantly trimming our hedge and keeping our spiritual walk vital in a close walk with God we too can be in danger of lowering our hedge and being fed to the lion.

Let us pray.