So you shall put away the evil from among you.
Deuteronomy 22:21b
It is a dangerous and costly mistake not to take temptation seriously. The sad testimony of many who have succumbed to sin's enticements is that they thought they were strong enough to remain in the midst of temptation and resist it. God requires that His people remove evil from their midst (Deut. 21:21). One way to do this is to remove anything in your environment that may tempt you to sin. When wickedness surrounds you, you are in danger of becoming anesthetized to its destructive potential. Never assume that you are immune to temptation. Do not underestimate the craftiness of the evil one.
God does not tolerate evil, for evil cost the death of His Son. Sin causes untold pain and destruction to everyone it touches. Treating evil lightly shows foolish disregard for God's redemptive work. An honest evaluation of your life will reveal temptations that you should remove, such as some forms of entertainment or ungodly relationships. When God convicts you of evil in your midst, remove it immediately!
There are times, however, when you are powerless to remove ungodly influences, so you must remove yourself from the temptation. Paul urges us to avoid every kind of evil (1 Thess. 5:22). When Joseph was enticed to commit adultery by his master's wife, he fled immediately! (Gen. 39:12).
Do not lose your abhorrence of sin. Be diligent to keep any form of temptation out of your home, out of your relationships, out of your mind. You will not be able to walk closely with God unless you see sin as He sees it. Darkness and light cannot coexist. Run from the darkness to the light! - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day
It's interesting to look at the letters to the Churches. All of them. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and the rest of the New Testament, not just those in the opening of the book of Revelation.
Compromise. Justification. Tolerance. Acceptance. Inclusion.
Words that lead the way into doing exactly what the Scriptures forewarned us concerning calling evil, good.
None of those words are used in such a way as to be compared to a bright beam flashlight in the dark of night. If you haven't understood it by now, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
He weasels his way into the lives of people to exploit their weaknesses in order to bring about his idea of order and rule.
If the greatest faults are to be looked at concerning the people's of this world is that they never looked ahead at the consequences of their actions. You don't have to look very far in history to see how the entitlement generation has come to be. How it didn't take many generations to arrive at the spoiled brat mentality of much of society we see ravaging cities and destroying history.
Forget the past and be doomed to repeat it in the future. Look at the Biblical record. Every single time Israel got through a heavy lesson, they wouldn't do as told to teach the next generation, the next generation would repeat their ancestors sin and the judgment of God returned.
Removing Church buildings will not remove Christians nor will it alter the truths or facts of sin and its consequences. The Church began in homes. It can still do that.
It matters not how much evil men try to beat upon those who believe, the truth is those are people who are safe in Christ. They may indeed have a rough exit from this life but their next heartbeat will have them fully healed, in white robes, standing before their Savior. There's nothing Satan can do about that.
We live in a society that for generations has been craftily challenging what sin is, trying to redefine it, removing the guilt therein. Trying to entice people to consider those sinful things as acceptable, that it's wrong to condemn sin, that it must be tolerated to win people to Christ. What does the Bible say? Turn from sin, flee it, repent and renew a right relationship with Jesus. By no means is it the same message!
In Christ sin is not tolerated. After healing someone, Jesus bade them to go and sin no more. He never once patted them on the head, said oh don't worry about it and sent them on their way. He had the power to forgive, and so He did, but also left them with a command. Go and sin no more.
Leaving people wallowing in their sin, will never show them that sin is utterly sinful! Lot and family were yanked from their homes because God was going to judge Sodom and Gehmorrah for their sin.
You cannot grow in Christ and wallow in the muck and mire of sin and call yourself a Christian!
Sin should be repulsive to believers.
It's repulsive to Christ.
Sin was problematic enough that only the blood of a perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, could atone for it. It shouldn't be acceptable in the professing Church to tolerate sin. We are to be using the Bible for what it was meant for.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
If you aren't reading it, you have no clue what is right and what is wrong.
Sitting in a Church service every Sunday doesn't make you any more of a Christian than standing in your garage makes you a car.
You are in Christ to have a relationship with Jesus. To be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
Walking with Jesus means listening to His teaching, not you doing all the talking.
Temptations for the believer have a way of escape that we might not fall. Scripture says so. Be sure to be in your Bible to find out just what God says is a temptation.
You cannot look at the world in the same way you did before coming to Christ. Now you have the Spirit of God within you. Now you must see things as the Spirit sees things. Now you must address sin as He shows you. Now is the time to live as one who has been redeemed.
Look at all the compromises you have made in your life in regards to sin. Go ahead, look, because I guarantee you that you have made them. Things you struggle to let go of. Sins that you refuse to acknowledge in yourself and others. You have fallen prey to the world's notion that to do so means offending someone or belittling yourself. Hate to break it to you the cross of Christ is entirely offensive to a sin cursed world.
What areas of your life are you clinging to that are sin in God's eyes? It can be anything from physical things to ideologies on rights and privileges. Anything that comes between your relationship being right with God and you.
Anything. Music, sports, protests, hobbies, employment, family, relationships. Jesus spelled it out. If you love anything in this world more than Him you aren't worthy of Him.
Me, personally, it's been a journey of removing things from my life that have gotten in the way of my relationship with Jesus. It's a work in progress. Don't count the monetary value of removing sinfulness from your life, the blood of Jesus was priceless to save you.
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