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By Charles Spurgeon
"And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Elijah
did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the
house of God. And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the
household staff of Tobiah out of the chamber," Nehemiah 13:7, 8.
The story of stern old Nehemiah, and his struggles with Sanballat's
traitorous crew, deserves our best attention. The spirit of decision
met the foes of Zion at every turn, but watchfulness was always
needed. Our case is very similar, let us gather wisdom from this
ancient record,
Our enemies will not readily renounce their hold upon our souls
When Tobiah could not prevent the restoration of Jerusalem, he
plotted to obtain quarters within it; and when sin can no longer
have dominion over us, it artfully contrives to dwell within our
flesh. Inside the wall a foe is far more dangerous than without, and
thus inbred sin is much more to be dreaded than outward temptation.
It behoves us to keep a strict watch, for in some secret chamber of
our nature sin will find a lurking-place. They say there is a
skeleton in every house, certainly, there is a body of death in
every saint.
Our enemies have allies within us.
If it had not been for Eliasbib, the priest Tobiah had never
obtained the great chamber, nor been able to introduce his household
stuff. Alas! for us that our weaker passions should. so soon consent
to sin, and that appetites which are in them selves but natural,
should so easily become inflamed into furious, sinful passions. If
traitors within did not open to enemies without, Mansoul would not
so readily be taken.
Our holiest dispositions need careful watching.
In the house of the Lord, Tobiah gained a lodging, in the very
chamber "where aforetime they laid the meat offerings and the
frankincense." Spiritual pride will find a hidingplace in our
devotions, unbelief will lurk amid our self-examination, and anger
will conceal itself under the skirts of our zeal. In seasons of the
highest spiritual enjoyment, it behoves us to exercise double
vigilance against our great enemy, who so often transforms himself
into an angel of light. The sweet flowers blooming in our window
attract the buzzing bees, and so do our sweet graces draw the notice
of the enemy to us. Thieves waylay men known to have full purses,
and pirates watch for loaded galleons. Nehemiah tells us, "All this
time was not I at Jerusalem:" his watchful eye was gone, or Tobiah
would not have dared to intrude. Watch, believer, watch always!
Watch most when least in apparent need of it,
It will be our wisdom to show no quarter to our foe.
"Cast forth all his goods," was stern Nehemiah's order; and then,
having carefully purged the chamber, he filled it anew with the
Lord's stores. He did not leave him even a chest in which to store a
few trifles, but turned out the whole. It should grieve us sore if
we have given allowance to sin, and in the power of the Spirit of
holiness, we should strive to make a clean riddance of the evil. Woe
unto us if we make provision for the flesh. have we none of the
household stuff of Tobiah to cast forth from the sanctuary of our
heart? Is there no vacant space to fill with frankincense for the
Lord our God?
This incident gives us the true history of backsliding, and of
restoration from it.
The process is simple and is seen in the narrative. At the outset of
the evil, the heart becomes vacant, the precious stores of the Lord
vanish one by one, and there is room for something else.
Heavenly-mindedness is gone, and then the heart is ready to mind
earthly things. Then comes the suggestion and allowance from the
traitor within, and straightway the lumber of Tobiah is introduced
by degrees, and the soul becomes a wholesale warehouse for the
household stuff of sin. Behold the mischief when at its full: the
heart, which should be the house of God, becomes a receptacle for
the has gotten booty of thieves. If by God's grace a decided
sin-hating faith shall act the part of stern old Nehemiah, there
will be a returning to a gracious condition, which will be reached
step by step until there is a complete re-dedication of the now
haunted chamber. Out will be thrown the cherished evils, out of
doors and. windows with muck dust and breakage all will be hurled,
and a riddance will be made as thoroughly as grace shall enable
penitence to do the business. Next shall follow a cleansing,
scouring, and purifying of no ordinary kind, in which, with many
penitential tears and bewailings, the heart shall cry to be purged
with hyssop, and cleansed from all its secret faults. To this the
Holy Spirit will give an answer of peace, and the precious blood of
Jesus shall purify the heart by a renewed experience of its
cleansing power. Then, as the crowning mercy, the vessel of the Lord
and: all the dedicated goods, shall be once again set in their
places, and so by restoration to its proper use, the chamber of the
heart shall be preserved from becoming again a receiving house for
thieves. Emptiness and idleness of mind is a very dangerous
condition; Satan never sees a vacant heart without resolving to fill
it with the treasures of mischief. When the measure is full of
wheat, there is no room for it; when the soul is fully occupied with
Jesus, the enemy may look in vain for an entrance; but a heart
usually thoughtless, indevout, and inactive, is an inn upon the
devil's highway, and shall be thronged with evil guests.
Dear reader, may this short sermon set thee upon self-searching, and
if Tobiah's baggage be stowed away in thy heart, may thy conscience,
like Nehemiah, make short work with it, and may the Lord Jesus reign
alone over all the powers of thy soul.
"Soon as faith the Lord can see
Bleeding on a cross for me,
Quick my idols all depart,
Jesus gets and falls my heart."
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