The Little Foxes

Well, good morning, everyone. Good to see you in the Lord’s house today.

Do you believe that our God is a chain-breaking God? Amen. He can break the chains that bind us and the bondages that are there. If you don’t believe it, friends, I hope by the end of today you believe it. Amen.

Let’s sing about that. If you’re able, stand with us.

You’ve been hearing the same old voice and the same old’s better.

He’s a way for the light of the In the found ourselves out there.

There’s a better.

He’s the way maker.

He’s a great feel.

You receive it.

Somebody testify.

He’s amazing.

He’s a chain breaker.

He’s a prison. He’s a change.

And all God’s people say, “Amen.” And you can be seated.

Yes, Lord. Whatever we need, we bring it to him. And we find that he—the old song, Michael W. Smith, “Jesus is the answer.” I don’t know what the question is, but Jesus is the answer. Amen. Amen.

Well, welcome to New Beth Baptist Church. Good to see you in the Lord’s house this morning. We welcome those watching us on the live stream as well.

I know this is the beginning weekend of fall break, and so many are traveling. It was a good week for traveling. So, we wish them well, and we hope he brings them back home safely to us. And we’re not jealous of them in the least amount because we’re here today to praise the Lord. Amen.

Let’s do that by giving glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Praise God whom all bless him.

Praise him above the heavenly host.

Thank.

Go to the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, as we, your children, your beloved, your family, are gathered here today, Lord, we know that your presence is always with us. That there is not a time, there is not a date, there is not a height, there is not a death, but your presence is not with us.

But Father, we also know that when the family of God assembles, that the power of your presence is magnified. That as your name is exalted, you say, “Lord, you have told us that if you be lifted up, that you will draw all men unto you.”

We pray that today, as we lift up the name of thy Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, that you will draw all people unto you.

Father, as we sing and as we later hear your Word, we pray that if there are those here today that are bound by chains of the devil, that they will be loosed, those chains will be broken, and that each link in those chains would be severed so they could never be put back together again, so that your people could experience true freedom today.

We pray this for the good of those who are gathering. We pray this for the glory of our blessed Savior. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Amen.

If you’re able, would you stand with us again as we sing “I Am Resolved.”

I am no longer things that are higher.

Lord will patience to thee.

I am res.

Sing it out, church.

I will come to thee.

Will come to thee.

Ever to thee.

God.

Now.

I need.

And if you come for all.

Ladies, it is time for our mission moment. And guys in the back, channel 9. They’ll be on channel 9.

Okay. So, Germany from County is 4,938 miles, hour drive for when missionaries Judy and Andrew Jones followed Jesus’ call to serve there.

They arrived during COVID-19 lockdown, and it changed their plans. Instead of meeting people in neighborhoods and cafes, they spent their days researching the city and praying through its—during one of their prayer walks, God led them to a German pastor who shared the same desire to plant churches in lab today.

The partnership had grown into multi-ellular churches planting team serving together in the northern part of the city. Some team members grew up in the city and the communities in East Germany and bring capable culture insight to the ministry.

Together they have established two homes groups and preparing to launch called Alpha, an introduction to the Christian family.

Some fun facts about Germany is that every Monday evening people used to join hands and pray at St. Nicholas Church. A famous named Martin Luther used to preach in Germany, were invited in Germany.

Okay, let us pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for letting us all come together as one. Dear Lord, I pray that you just let us go through our week with no struggles, no pain. Dear Lord, I pray that you take whatever pain that’s in us today. I pray that you take that away from us.

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that every each and every one of them will come out to church again tonight.

Dear Lord, I pray this all in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I could use some of those bears right now. Amen.

I appreciate these ladies giving us—you know, we have the cooperative program and we have our missions giving, but it sure is good to have a connection to know who some of these 5,000-some-odd missionaries are serving the Lord and being supported by us all over the world. Amen.

Let’s continue in worship.

I find without you.

I need you.

I want my.

Oh, God. I need you.

Your grace is your.

Amord.

I want my righteous.

Teach my.

Stand.

My righteous.

God, I.

Oh God, how I.

Older generation.

The phrase is, “I just don’t know how people that don’t know the Lord make it.” Amen.

I think it’s a good phrase to use. I don’t know how people that don’t know the Lord make it.

Well, this morning—and not yet, we’re not yet starting a sermon series yet. I’m not there yet—but I’m preaching a sermon that’s probably been my most requested repreach sermon of all times. And it has been about seven years since I’ve preached it, but those who enjoyed it back then will recognize it. And those who weren’t here won’t, and a lot of new people since then.

“Catch the Little Foxes.”

Song of Songs. Song of Solomon. Chapter 2. Song of Solomon or Song of Songs, depending how it’s listed in your Bible. Chapter 2, verse number 15.

When you get there, if you can, would you stand with me as we honor God and the reading of his Word?

I’m going to be going from memory, maybe a word or two different than the Bible translation that you have.

Song of Solomon chapter 2, verse 15. And the way that I memorized it was, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, the vines with their tender grapes.”

May the Lord add his blessing to the reading, the preaching, and your hearing to understand his holy Word. May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forever be praised.

And all of God’s people say, “Amen.”

Amen. And you may be seated.

So, our text this morning does come from a place sort of unusual for a sermon like this. And you just don’t really hear that many sermons from the Song of Solomon. Maybe you go to a marriage conference and you hear it exedated in detail, but not really that many Sunday morning sermons from the Song of Solomon.

Song of Solomon is a book of poetry. It is love poetry. It is romantic poetry. Yes, that’s exactly what it is, right there in the middle of the Bible.

I thought that went really well with our sermon last week, which was on love.

Song of Solomon describes great beauty. It describes the delights of love between a bride and a bridegroom.

And then here in chapter 2, everything here is beautiful. Everything here is—winter is passed. The rain is over. Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, vines are blossoming. Everything, chapter 1 and chapter 2, everything is coming to life again in great splendor and beauty.

And then suddenly, chapter 2, verse 15, there’s this warning:

“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes.”

We Mississippians, we might want to replace that with, “Catch for us the armadillos.”

Now, I want to be careful here because I want you to know that I’m certainly not the first preacher to ever take this passage of Scripture and this picture in Scripture and apply it to the Christian life. It’s been done for generations, going all the way back to Charles Spurgeon in England, all the way up to Carlos Evans in the modern day.

And it’s just one of those passages of Scripture that any preacher that’s been preaching for very long has a sermon on this text of Scripture.

So I’m not claiming anything particularly original this morning. As we read in Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun. Amen.

But I do believe there is something here that we, New Beth Baptist Church, first Sunday of October, need to hear.

Because there is a danger to our vineyard.

The danger to our vineyard isn’t always something big.

Sometimes the danger to the vineyard of our Christian life and our spiritual growth and maturity and discipleship—sometimes it’s little foxes.

Now, why are little foxes so dangerous?

Little sweet, little cute, little foxes. You see the memes on Facebook or the videos, and aren’t they just precious? Aren’t they just sweet?

Why are they so dangerous? What’s so dangerous about a little fox?

Well, the first thing that makes them dangerous is that they are little.

If we’re thinking about a vineyard with a wall around it, a big animal trying to get into your vineyard is easy to see and easy to identify and easy to keep out. But a little fox can slip through a tiny little crack, an opening.

He can find that little opening and sneak in. He can squeeze through the little hole that we’ve allowed to develop in the fence around our life.

And before you know it, he’s there doing damage.

So little foxes are dangerous, number one, because they’re little.

Secondly, they’re dangerous because the vines are tender.

Our text says the vineyard is in bloom. If you know about grapevines, if it’s an established grapevine, there’s the woody vine, the hard woody vine, and then every year there’s new growth that comes out and it’s very tender. It’s easy to break.

And if you break off that new part that’s just growing in the spring off a muscadine vine or a possum grapevine or a grapevine, that’s it. There’s going to be no more growth on that spot. That spot where it was tender, as it was just starting to grow, that was its growth for the year. And once it’s gone, it’s gone.

And the little foxes get in there and they scurry around and they break off the places of new growth. That’s going to be the place where you yield fruit for that whole season.

And notice what the Bible tells us here about what we’re supposed to do with them.

What are we supposed to do with them?

Catch them.

Identify them. Deal with them.

By the way, folks, this is not catch and release.

You don’t catch the fox and drive him down the road three-quarters of a mile and open up the door and let him out, and then act surprised when he’s back the next night.

You have to deal with him. I’ll just leave that at that.

The point is this: there are little things that we allow to creep into our—there are little things that we allow to creep into our lives that do big damage. Little things we live in that do big spiritual damage.

And most of the time, spiritual disaster doesn’t begin with a gigantic decision.

It begins with something small.

Most of the time, spiritual disaster begins with just a little hole in the wall, in the fence. Just big enough for a little fox to crawl through.

Begins with a little hole in the fence.

A little fox comes through and gives a little compromise, a little bad attitude, a little habit, a little resentment, neglect, a little doubt, a temptation—but it’s not a big temptation. It was just a little temptation.

Or maybe a little word spoken that shouldn’t have been spoken.

And the fox gets into the vineyard.

Church, Satan doesn’t have to come in and burn down the whole vineyard. Sometimes all he has to do is find one little opening in the fence.

One unattended place in your life. One neglected prayer life. One unforgiven offense. One tolerated temptation.

And he’ll slip through that little opening and he’ll start chewing on everything that God has growing in your life.

It is on the new, tender places of the vine that growth and fruit is born.

So this morning, I want us to walk around the fence.

Y’all ever do that?

Have to walk around the barbed-wire fence and see where the tree might have fallen on it, and then you wonder where in the world them heifers are getting out at from.

There it is.

You never know until you what?

Walk around the fence.

And I want us to look at some of these foxes.

Number one, I want us to see foxes that can spoil the tender vines of our Christian experience.

There are some foxes that get into the vineyard of your personal walk with God, your personal devotion to God.

They steal your joy. Anybody?

They steal your peace.

They steal your contentment.

Foxes like, number one, the doubting fox.

And folks, listen. Every Christian deals with doubt at some point. You need to hear me say that, folks. Every believer deals with doubt at some point.

You’re not crushed and ground into a fine powder and scattered out to sea just because you’ve experienced doubt.

Amen.

Sometimes we doubt.

Sometimes we doubt God’s provision. Can God really provide like he said he would?

Sometimes we doubt God’s plan.

“God, this just doesn’t make sense.”

Sometimes we doubt whether God hears our prayers or not.

Sometimes Christians even struggle with doubts about their salvation.

“Am I really saved?”

Folks, let me tell you something. You’re either saved or you’re not saved. And you either were saved or you were not saved. And if you were saved, you’re still saved today because being saved is not based on feeling saved or not. It’s not based on anything about you. It’s based on everything about him.

Amen.

Doubt.

Doubt is a fox because once you let it run loose in your life, it’ll chew on everything. It will affect everything else in your life.

You’ll start questioning one thing, then another thing, then another thing. Pretty soon, you’re questioning everything that you know to be true, or you knew to be true, everything you had built your life on and built your—everything that had brought you peace and joy and contentment.

And think about this: that fox wants to steal that from you.

So if you’re struggling with the fox, the little fox of doubt, go back and remember what God has already done.

Go back to those moments when you knew God was working in your life, when you experienced God working in your life.

Go back to when you first trusted Christ.

Go back to prayers that have been answered.

Go back to things that could be way beyond coincidence. No way coincidence could explain it.

Go back to doors that God opened for you.

Go back to times when God carried you when you couldn’t carry yourself.

And then look that doubting fox square in the eye and say, along with St. Paul the Apostle, “I know whom I have believed in, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him until that day.”

Notice Paul didn’t say, “I know everything.”

He didn’t say, “I understand everything.”

He didn’t say, “I have every question answered.”

But he does say, “I know whom I have believed.”

Amen.

Because my confidence isn’t ultimately in my ability to understand everything. It’s not—my confidence is not in anything of me.

My confidence is in everything of him.

Amen.

And if he was faithful yesterday, he’ll be faithful today, and he’ll be faithful tomorrow.

So catch that doubting fox and deal with him.

There’s another one.

There’s the fox of doubt. There’s the fox of condemnation.

This fox has a very particular vocabulary. He speaks the same language to whoever he talks to.

He says things like, “After what you’ve done, how could God possibly love you? If God knows everything, and God knows everything you’ve done, and God knows everything you’ve done that nobody else knows that you’ve done, how could God ever love you?”

He says things like, “You think you’re going to heaven? You’re not good enough.”

He says, “God doesn’t want anything to do with you. If God really knows you.”

He says, “You have failed one too many times.”

Ultimately, this condemning fox says—and you know it’s not true because the devil’s a lie. Amen.

The devil’s a lie.

And he says, “You’re worthless.”

Well, I know that’s a lie because it came from the devil. Amen.

Anybody ever heard that condemning fox talk like that?

Anybody ever heard that condemning fox talk like that?

Let me tell you what you do.

You answer him with Scripture.

Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

No condemnation.

Not some condemnation.

Not half condemnation.

No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Did you hear that, folks?

Listen.

God didn’t start loving you after you got your act together.

God didn’t just start loving you when you got everything straightened out.

Amen.

Christ didn’t die on the cross for some imaginary, vastly improved version of you.

He died for you while you’re a sinner.

So when that condemning fox starts telling you that you’re not good enough, you can say, “That’s right. I’m not.”

But he is.

I’m not saved because I’m good enough.

I’m saved because Jesus is good enough.

I’m not standing before God dressed in my own righteousness, which is filthy rags. I’m standing before God in the righteousness of Christ.

And catch that fox.

Deal with him.

And then there are two twin foxes that always travel together.

The twin foxes of apathy and complacency.

Apathy says, “I don’t care.”

Complacency says, “It’ll be all right. Don’t worry about it.”

And together they ruin the Christian life. Together they ruin the Christian testimony. Together they ruin the Christian experience.

You stop reading your Bible.

Miss one day, then two. Third morning, you oversleep.

“Ah, it’ll be all right.”

You stop one day at supper time when you’ve said, “God is great. God is good,” and you stop and say, “When was the last time I really prayed?”

Really prayed.

“Ah, it’ll be all right.”

You get out of Sunday school. You overslept one morning. “Oh, we’re—or we’re—it’s going—we’re going to be 10 minutes late getting in, so we’re not—we’re just going to skip.”

And then next week, and, “Oh, but it’s just Sunday school. It’ll be all right.”

You start missing worship more.

The next Sunday is easier.

The next Sunday’s easier.

“Ah, it’s no big deal. I’ll get back in church one day. It’ll be all right.”

You stop serving.

You stop giving.

You stop witnessing.

You stop—you stop paying attention to your spiritual life.

And every time conviction comes upon you, complacency says, “It’s no big deal. It’ll be all right.”

But here’s the problem.

When you’re complacent, you aren’t minding the fence. And little holes start developing in the fence, and little foxes start creeping through the little holes in the fence around your life.

And once they are there through the little holes, the little foxes get into the vineyard and destroy the vines.

Nobody wakes up one morning and says, “You know what? I’ve got a pretty good spiritual life. I mean, I—I—I am seeking the Lord, and I’m reading in my Bible, and I’m giving, and I’m serving, and I’m gonna quit all that.”

No.

How does it happen?

Gradually.

A little bit.

Prayer becomes occasional.

The Bible stays closed.

Worship becomes optional.

The conviction from the Holy Spirit that pricked your heart gets quieter.

Doesn’t bother you as much.

Listen to me.

Sin becomes easier and easier the longer you stay in it.

And if you are a true believer, one day you wake up and you look around and you wonder, “How did I get this far from where I used to be? How did I get this far away from God?”

The little foxes.

The small holes in the wall.

You let them come through.

You better catch them while they’re little.

Amen.

Then there are the foxes that spoil the tender vines of our Christian testimony.

There’s another vineyard you need to protect.

Your name.

Your testimony in the world.

Amen.

How many of you have things that are out there in the public memory that people out in the public have heard you say or saw you do, and oh, how you wish you could take it back?

Oh, how you wish you could undo it.

Folks, whether you realize it or not, people are watching.

If people know you’re a Christian, they’re watching how you live.

Your children are watching.

Your grandchildren are watching.

People at work are watching.

People at school and on the team are watching.

People in this community are watching your life.

And one of the quickest ways to damage your Christian testimony is letting little foxes creep in through the holes in the wall.

Things like the talking fox.

The talking fox.

Folks, your mouth can destroy in 30 seconds. In 30 seconds, your mouth can destroy what you took 30 years to build.

Scripture says, “No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need.”

Christians, you know what we need to do, Christians?

You need to watch your mouth.

Because Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

Whatever’s in your heart is what comes out of your mouth. If you want to know what’s in somebody’s heart, listen to what’s coming out of their mouth.

Amen.

And that doesn’t just mean profanity. It certainly does, but not just.

It means gossip.

It means cruel words.

A cruel word is something when you say something and you intend—you mean for what you’re about to say to hurt somebody.

Teenagers who are always involved in drama, listen to me.

If you have already got some comeback or some phrase formulated in your mind to say to somebody, and you’re just—you’re just waiting for the right opportunity to say it. You were at 3:00 in the morning. You thought this through and you said, “That’ll get him. I say that. Just wait. I have a chance.”

You need to repent because that’s sin.

Constant criticism.

Exaggeration.

Half-truths.

Angry words.

The things we say when we’re irritated.

Folks, before you speak, if you’re a Christian, if you’re a blood-bought, born-again, Spirit-filled child of the living God, before you speak, you need to ask yourself, number one:

Is it true?

Do you know it’s true?

“Well, it might be true.”

Do you know it’s true?

Number two, is it necessary?

Because just because it’s true doesn’t mean that it needs to be said.

Just because it’s true don’t mean you need to say it.

That’s wisdom right there.

Is it true?

Is it necessary?

Is it helpful?

Does it sound like something somebody who belongs to Jesus ought to say?

Examine your words.

Because listen, this is a sobering thought right here. This is what somebody’s going to carry out today and remember for the rest of the afternoon.

Folks, you may forget what you said five minutes ago.

You may forget what you just said in a casual conversation.

You weren’t logging that into the long-term memory computer. You just said it in passing.

You may forget it, but somebody else may remember that for the rest of their lives.

Catch the talking fox.

Let’s say, catch the fox that runs its mouth too much.

Amen.

The tempting fox.

Here’s one that we—we usually recognize this one. Most of the time, we know when we’re being tempted.

Most of the time, we know when we’re being—we know.

Come on now.

Come on.

Most of the time, we know when we’re being tempted.

There’s that moment when your conscience and the Holy Spirit pricks your conscience, and your—your Holy Spirit within you says, “Don’t do this.”

That’s the warning.

And that’s the time when you stop negotiating.

You don’t negotiate with the tempting fox.

You don’t pet him.

You don’t feed him.

You don’t see how close you can get to him.

You run.

Paul told Timothy, “Flee from youthful passions.”

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is leave.

Get out.

Turn it off.

Put the phone down.

Walk away.

End the conversation.

Don’t go in.

Don’t click.

Don’t respond.

Don’t put yourself in that situation.

Especially if you’re a young person, a teenager—and really for all of us—listen, you don’t prove your spiritual maturity by seeing how close you can get to sin without falling into sin.

“Yeah, preacher, but Jesus ate with sinners.”

You not Jesus.

You’re not there yet.

You prove your maturity by recognizing danger and recognizing temptation and staying away from it.

Paul told Timothy, “Let no one despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech”—how you talk—“in conduct”—how you live—“in love and faith and purity.”

In other words, mind your vineyard.

Mind your fence.

Your testimony—your testimony is precious, folks.

Your testimony takes years to build and can be destroyed in 15 seconds.

Here’s how we’ll close.

Check the fence.

Go around the entire property.

Walk around the vineyard one more time of your life.

Watch out for the foxes that can steal your Christian joy and contentment: doubt and condemnation, apathy and complacency.

Watch out for the foxes that can ruin your Christian testimony: your speech and temptation.

But there’s one more fox I want to mention as we close.

And he has a name, too.

He is the fox of procrastination.

He says, “Later.”

He says, “Don’t say no. Just say not now.”

“I’ll get serious about God later.”

“I’ll start reading my Bible again later.”

“I’ll straighten out this mess that I made. Oh, I don’t want to deal with it right now. Later.”

“I’ll forgive them one day, but I’m going to nurse this anger for a little while longer and let it be acid to eat me up from the inside out—and do them no harm.”

“I’ll come back to church later.”

Procrastination.

The fox of procrastination has a big brother.

He’s the hardhearted fox.

Because every time God speaks and you say, “Later,” it becomes a little easier the next time to say, “Later. Later. Later.”

Until eventually, you don’t hear his voice at all.

And maybe this morning, God is speaking to you.

Maybe there’s a fox you need to catch.

Maybe there’s a hole in the fence that needs to be repaired in your life.

Maybe there’s an area that you have neglected.

Maybe there’s a temptation that you have tolerated.

Maybe there’s an attitude that you have excused.

Maybe there’s something between you and somebody else that needs to be made right.

Catch that little fox.

Maybe you’re here and you’ve never trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord.

And the little fox of procrastination whispers, “Someday.”

“That’s a good thing. You ought to do that. You ought to do that. Yep. Yep. Someday.”

The Bible says, “Now is the day of salvation.”

Today is the day of salvation.

Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. He was buried and rose again so you could be saved.

Today.

Don’t wait until you’re better.

Don’t wait until you’ve cleaned up your life.

Don’t wait until you understand everything, folks.

Come to Jesus.

Guard the vineyard and catch the fox.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, I pray that folks have heard this message today and with obedience and faith will respond.

Lord, if there are decisions that need to be made and made public, we pray they’ll be made publicly. If there’s business that people need to do with you in the altar, I pray they’ll come and kneel in the altar and find peace and forgiveness.

Whatever the decision is, let it be made here in this time of invitation.

We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.