John K. Jenkins Sr - Principles Regarding Spiritual Hedges

The story of Job is probably one of the best-known stories in all of the scriptures. I mean, out of all the Bible stories, this is one that is often preached about and talked about. Job is a man who is well-to-do, but he is also a man who loves God and hates what is evil. He is a prayerful man with a lot of possessions, including ten children. However, something devastating happens in Job's life. As a matter of fact, it is a series of events, one after the other, that wreaks devastation in his life. He finds himself having all of his possessions destroyed; his cattle and sheep are taken away, and all his belongings are lost. His ten children are killed in one day while they are sitting at one of the children's houses when the roof caves in on them. Then he gets sick, struck with a case of boils from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. To top it all off, his wife starts flapping her lips. You know they’re not sitting with their wives; that’s why these brothers back here are so loud. It looks devastating from the outset, and then most of the Book of Job consists of a conversation among his so-called friends—three friends who come to his house to bring comfort to him but instead bring criticism. They point fingers at him, but God vindicates Job. By the time we reach chapter 42, the scripture tells us that God gives back to Job double what he had. Somebody better look at their neighbor and say, "I'm about to get double for my trouble!" He receives twice what he had despite everything he endured.

What is interesting and significant to talk about today is that what happened to Job—the experiences he had and what he went through—was the result of events occurring in the supernatural, in the spiritual realm, beyond Job's ability to see. There is something going on in the heavenly realm that is not visible to him or anyone else, which causes him to face the challenges that he does. That is what I want to walk you through today. I promise I’ll have you out of here by about 3:15, 3:00 at the latest. But listen, thank you, Deacon McFarland; I appreciate you, sir. What is happening in the spiritual realm is that the angels of God have presented themselves to God—the sons of God—and the devil shows up in their midst. How many of you know that when there’s a group of people around, the devil is somewhere there too? Yeah, he showed up here today. Look down your row and see if you can figure out who the devil is. Who brought the devil? While the devil is in the midst and in the presence of God, God says something strange to him. God asks the devil, “Have you considered my servant Job?” Wow! God points out Job to Satan. Satan responds, saying, “Yeah, I checked him out. I saw him, but I recognize that you’ve blessed him; you’ve increased his land and put a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side. You’ve blessed the man. But I tell you what, God, if you would remove that hedge and allow me to attack him, I’ll have him cursing you to your face.”

The story goes on to say that God removed the hedge and told the devil, “You can have him, except you can’t take his life; you can have him.” I think that’s an incredible thing—that God thought enough about Job that He had the confidence Job would respond appropriately when faced with challenges. Wow, that blows my mind! I wonder if the devil showed up at the footsteps of God today, who in our midst could God say, “Have you checked out brother so-and-so? Have you checked out sister so-and-so?" The devil says, "I've been trying to get at him. I’ve been trying to test him. I've been trying to push back against him, but you have a hedge around him.” A hedge, y’all know, consists of a row of bushes or small trees planted together to form a fence or boundary. In Hebrew, this word "hedge" means to surround or hinder movement, providing protection or restraint. In fact, that's exactly what happened—God had drawn a line and established boundaries regarding how far the devil could go when it came to Job.

I want to talk to you all about this today, whatever the day is; I haven't lost track of time! Three points I want to give you: First of all, I want to talk about the principles of spiritual hedges. Number one: the hedges provide protection. Somebody say, “The protection of the hedges.” Write that down: "The protection of hedges." Hedges provide protection. Now, y’all don’t look too excited about that, but I’m going to help y’all understand—it’s something everyone should be shouting about. Why should you be shouting about it? Because here’s the bottom line: I don’t care what has happened in your life, what drama you've encountered. What we need to recognize...