It is not the will of God for anyone to perish...but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9)...and Jesus clearly warned us all that ‘unless we repent...we will all...likewise perish’ (Luke 13:1-5). His words, not mine. And that was not a threat, but a warning offered in love. Remember...He did not come to condemn us but to save us (John 3:18).

‘Repent from what’, you may ask? How about anything in our lives that is contrary to His nature and character! Remember, Jesus came to set the captives free (Luke 4:18) and He did point out that ‘anyone who commits sin is a slave to sin’ (John 8:34) so if we use our context clues here, we should be able to see that it is ‘sin’ that we are turning from in every area of our life. You might take a second and read Hebrews 12:1-4 to get started here today.

Are we not told there to ‘lay aside every weight that slows us down and every sin which so easily ensnares us...’? I should point out that he says ‘every sin’, and not just the ‘big ones’ that might taint our ‘testimony’, or are ‘easy’ ones for us to do away with. Do you remember the story of King Saul who was instructed by God to completely eradicate the Amalekites? God wanted nothing left of them, not even their livestock. And what did Saul take it upon himself to do? He figured there were some worth keeping alive, and so he did. Bad decision there, Saul; and God was not pleased. (1 Kings 15). What many fail to learn from that story is at the end of King Saul’s life, the very thing that killed him was an Amalekite (2 Sam. 1:1-13).

Friends...when God tell us to do away with, or turn from something, or to ‘put it to death’, He really means it; as in... He’s not joking, nor kidding around, nor speaking in ‘spiritual metaphors’. Ananias and his wife learned that the hard way, and that was a NT example! (Acts 5:1-11).

Oh, I did not finish that first sentence in Heb. 12:1 because it goes on to say that after we lay down those sins and weights, that we have a race to run that is set before us, and we need to endure. We know that when talking about a ‘race’, be it a 100-meter dash or a 26 mile marathon, this race has a ‘starting point’ and a ‘finish line’. And the very fact that we are told to run this race with ‘endurance’ is interesting, because what did Jesus have to say regarding those who would be ‘saved’, in Matt. 10:22 and 24:13? Yes, I am fully aware this seems to be just the opposite of what many have been taught to believe, which is why I continue to make the case that much of what we have been told all our lives needs to be re-examined in the light of God’s word...and not...man-made doctrines and traditions (Mark 7:8-9; 2 Cor. 11:3-4; 13:5).

So let’s ‘get real’ now and make this ‘clearing the land’ we’ve been talking about... applicable. And it’s not a piece of real estate we are trying to clear and clean up either, it’s our hearts; and those who are truly being led by God’s Spirit, are doing just that (Rom.8:13-14). So is there a particular ‘sin’ or ‘weight’ that has continued to ensnare you for a long time, that you have never fully been able to overcome and ‘put to death’? It might be a ‘secret sin’ that few if any know about; or it could very well be some trait or ‘bad fruit’ in your life that everyone is aware of...and they’ve all learned to deal with and accept it because ...’nobody is perfect’, right?

If this ‘area of weakness’ is still evident in your life, may I ask: Have you repented of it then? And I’m not talking about ‘confessing it’ or ‘feeling bad’ about it, which the Bible calls it ‘worldly sorrow’ (2 Cor. 7:8-10). I’m talking about genuine repentance that produces godly sorrow and humbles you, which in turn makes you a prime candidate to receive God’s grace to overcome it, because God resist the proud, and gives grace to the humble’ (James 4:6). But you have to come to God in order to receive this grace (Heb. 4:16). And He is more than willing to come to your aid and empower you to deal with this ‘sin’ once and for all! (Heb.2:18; 4:15) as you ‘put it to death’.

I bet some of you are wondering....’Okay...so how does this happen, and how do we truly overcome this besetting sin once and for all?’ I would also imagine that there may be several of these areas in your life that crop up on a regular basis, if we are being honest here. But then again, you may be like that rich young ruler who only ‘lacked one thing from being perfected’ (Luke 18:22; Mark 10:21; Matt. 19:21). I’ll leave that between you and God; but if you are like me, you’ll be surprised as you continue on in this ‘race’...or ‘walk of faith’, that other areas are residing deep within you that you are not even aware of; which is why John told us we’d be foolish or deceived to suggest we ‘have no sin’ (1 John 1:8).

But here’s some good news: God’s not going to do some ‘overhaul, land grab’ at one time in your heart with one fell swoop; as in uproot every area of ‘sin’ that may be in your heart. We learned from the OT story that we couldn’t handle that...and that we’d be placed in danger of being overrun by the ‘beasts of the field’ (Deut. 7:22). I wonder... what those ‘beasts of the field’ might represent? (Who is referred to as a ‘lion’ in 1 Pet.5:8 or ‘serpents and scorpions’ in other places?). Oh, another piece of good news- just because you have some lingering ‘sin issues’ within you...once you surrender to the Lordship of Jesus...those areas that need to ‘come off the land’, in due time, no longer have control over you. Yeah...read that last sentence again if you would, please.

So have you identified an area in your life that you are sick and tired of it controlling you? Or better yet, what area has God...been dealing with you on and pointing out? Another lesson I learned about this walk over the past 5 years is I don’t get to decide which ‘enemy’ comes off the land’ first. Remember, He’s doing the leading (Rom. 8:13-14). And I don’t know who needs to hear this, but we are talking about ‘sin issues’ that break God’s commandments, because that is after all...what ‘sin’ is- 1 John 3:4.

For the sake of this lesson/illustration, let me use an area that many probably have battled with at one time or another, and perhaps it’s an area that you know God wants to deliver you from, and we’ll call this ‘Canaanite nation’ by its real name: “unforgiveness’; which can lead to resentment, hatred and murder, simply because we allowed a ‘root of bitterness’ to settle in deep within our heart. Chance are it has actually caused others to stumble as well (Heb. 12:15)

And for the sake of this ‘application lesson’, would you be willing to at least consider the possibility here that what you have failed to overcome is actually a ‘spirit’ of unforgiveness, or ‘spirit’ of bitterness? Why there might also be some ‘spirits of resentment’ in that ‘tribe’ as well that have made way for ‘spirits of gossip and backbiting and even revenge’ to ‘enter’ in. So maybe when Paul cautioned us about ‘giving no place to the devil’...he really meant it? (Eph. 4:27). We will continue with this tomorrow...Lord willing.