Protecting The Boundary Markers Series

ILLUS: Now, just a note.

While the Bible doesn’t teach that the sun orbits the earth… it DOES teach that the earth is the center of God’s creation. I just recently read an article that described a conclusion certain scientists – who believe in the “Big Bang” theory - have arrived at. Based upon their research, these scientists have arrived at a conclusion that they find very uncomfortable:

They have found that our galaxy is the origin of their “Big Bang”. In other words, according to the scientific information they’ve accumulated, they have have arrived at the inescapable conclusion that our galaxy is the center for the entire Universe….(http://www.icr.org/article/3343/)

Neat huh?

Amazingly that sounds a lot like what Scripture teaches us.

Now, let me repeat: Wrong thinking is based upon wrong information, while good thinking/ living is based upon good information. And God’s Word is the best information you can get

Jesus prayed to the Father for us: “Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth.” John 17:17

Essentially, Jesus is telling us that the Bible you hold in your hands is TRUTH.

The Bible is like an ancient boundary marker… it marks the beginning and the ending of truth.

ILLUS: Now what is a boundary marker?

A boundary marker/ a landmark - is something that establishes the boundaries of your property.

Back in the days of ancient Israel, those markers were stones or trees. If you had a dishonest neighbor who wanted some of your land they might move those stones. That’s why Prov. 22:28 says: “Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers.”

ILLUS: As I prepared for this sermon, I found a Supreme Court brief on the internet. It described a boundary dispute between two neighbors. It seems they had been friends at one time, and back in the 1960’s they had worked together to plant a hedgerow between their properties which they both took care of.

But one day, they got mad at each other and they tore down the hedgerow and one of them put up a chain link fence on the other neighbor’s side of the property line. THEN they “moved the boundary marker” so that it would appear the new fence was on the property line.

Now how did that get all the way to the Supreme Court? Well, the offending neighbor claimed two things:

1st His neighbor hadn’t cared when the fence went up.

2nd His neighbor hadn’t complained in the proper time.

You see, what that neighbor (who’d moved - boundary marker) had done is called encroachment. He had built something on his neighbor’s property that didn’t belong there.

But the legal system says that if somebody does that to us we have a limited amount of time to complain about it… 10 years to be exact. If we don’t complain within the set amount of time the damage has been done, and we lose the right to that part of our property.

Now, how does this apply to what we’re talking about today?

Well, we’ve just said that the Word of God is our “boundary marker”. It’s our landmark of truth. It marks the beginning and the ending of truth.

And that boundary marker of God’s Word PROTECTS US.