What dog owner has never had to remove a tick from their beloved pet? Whether you do it yourself or have someone else with a stronger stomach do it…you probably know that those pesky arachnids (in the spider family) just don’t leave on their own.

If you ever had a dog run off into the woods and stay awhile, chance are if/when they returned, they were in great need of a long cleansing bath. You might even use some of that expensive dog shampoo that promises to get rid of ticks and fleas as well, but you probably also know that after you have them bathed and dried off…you will most likely still need to comb through their hair and ears, leg crevices and all… to remove numerous stubborn ticks that did not come off in the bath. IYKYK

This might be an odd illustration to use for today’s lesson, and I don’t believe I’ve ever made this comparison before, but there is no shortage of God’s people, whom He likens as ‘sheep gone astray’…that might be in serious need of having some ‘spiritual ticks’ removed from their beings as well.

Do you know how you remove a tick from a pet? Aside from doing it carefully, you remove them ‘one by one’. There is no giving them a good shaking and they all disappear at once. Do you remember what God communicated through Moses how all those Canaanite nations were going to be removed from the land that God had waiting on them? One by one, or ‘little by little’….lest the ‘beasts of the field become too numerous for you.’ (Ex. 23:28-30; Deut. 7:22)

When it comes to removing ticks from a dog, we tend to notice those really big, fat, ugly ones first. They’re the ones who have been feasting on your pet’s blood longer, hence their enormous size, which is why we usually want to ‘attack’ them first and get them off. It’s sort of like that with sin in our lives. When a person comes to Jesus and surrenders their life to Him…this process of ‘cleaning up’ or ‘sanctifying’ gets underway as the Holy Spirit begins to lead us to put to death…’all the deeds of our sinful nature’ (Rom. 8:13). And while we want to avoid getting into ‘comparing sins’, can we just agree that ALL sin must go?  (Which ticks to you 'allow' to stay on your dog, and why?)

If a new convert has been a ‘murderer’…and still may be seething to seek revenge on others from his past life, it might be advantageous to deal with this tendency to kill other people first…before we move on to ‘less threatening sins’…if that makes sense? Or if they have been known to rape women and/or children or struggle with arson, etc. …you get the idea here. But when it comes to removing ticks from a dog…if you are going systematically over his body one square inch at a time…and you see a much smaller tick next to where that larger one was, you may as well deal with that one next. The reason being…the longer it is allowed to remain there, the bigger it too will become. Friends….neglecting any kind of sin in our lives is never a good thing.

Now I want to be careful here with this analogy using ‘ticks’ so as not to confuse anyone reading here today. When a person comes to Jesus, humbled and ready to repent and begin following Him, we all of course were and are in great need of a ‘cleansing’. Our hearts were defiled and desperately wicked and deceitful (Jer. 17:9; Mark 7:21-23). 

The Bible also states that we ‘were dead in sins and trespasses when we once walked according to the course/ways of this world’ (Eph. 2:1). If you continue reading there, it explains what exactly was working or operating ‘in us’ – the ‘prince of the power of the air-the spirit who continues to work in the sons of disobedience’ (2). That would be the spirit and powers of darkness (Satan) who we ‘know’ already controls this whole world (1 John 5:19). This is whom Jesus came to set us free from (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:18; 26:18; 2 Tim. 2:24-26). And it’s vs. 3 there in Eph. 2 that clearly explains just ‘how’ these ‘spirits’ work in us…it is through the “lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind”.

If you need a more detailed list of what all those ‘evident deeds of the flesh are’, you can refer to Galatians 5:19-20; Romans 1:29-32; Eph. 5:3-5; and Col. 3:5-9. You’ll get the idea.

So for the sake of my illustration here, let’s think in terms of many of those ‘evident deeds’ as ‘spiritual ticks’…that need to come off our hearts. In the same way that Joshua was used back in the OT to lead God’s people into this new land and were to remove those wicked nations off the land ‘one by one’, so does Jesus begin to lead us to remove all these ‘ticks’, or fleshly areas of sin from our hearts…once and for all. (Rom. 8:13, 29; 1 Tim. 1:5; Matt. 5:8).

If you are a racists who has hatred for other people who don’t look like you…God is going to deal with that sin because it should not even be named among us. The same goes with other areas like bitterness and envy and strife and lust and pride…etc. And we don’t get to choose which ‘ticks’ we are going to remove and which ones we find okay to let remain; they ALL must go. To think you can continue walking this way as a follower of Jesus is to be deceived. And I can also assure you that when those sins of the flesh begin to manifest, or ‘pop up’ as you continue your walk with Jesus…He will confront and convict you on the spot when they do ‘show their face’. You will know it immediately because you will lose your peace. Best thing to do in that moment is simply agree with God…confess and repent of that sin, and know that you are forgiven and by faith ‘cleansed by His blood’ (1 John 1:5-10).

Some might ask: “Isn’t that what water baptism does, like when you bathe that filthy dog who was running wild in the forest?” I cannot stress enough how important being baptized in water is...following your conversion to Christ (Acts 2:37-38; Mark 16:16), but water baptism is not so much a ‘cleansing bath’ for new believers; rather it is more of an identifying ‘burial’ that we undergo having died to our old way of living and are now going to walk in the ‘newness of this resurrected life’ …empowered to do so by the Spirit of Christ who now dwells in us. Romans 6:1-12 & 8:10-11 does a great job elaborating on this.

In other words, all those ‘ticks’ don’t come off immediately the moment you come to Jesus, no more than they come off your dog when you give them a good soapy bath. Some of them can, and will, but not all of them. Case and point: if you are indeed a baptized follower of Jesus, do you still not have certain ‘sins’ that you struggle with and have failed to fully overcome? Ever stop to ask yourself why that is?

Are you one of those folks who readily admit: “Oh, I’m a Christian, but I still struggle with porn…or fits of rage…or self-pity…or greed?” If so, then we have a problem, because those who abide in Jesus no longer live that way (1 John 2:6, 3:6; 5:18). So you still have unconfessed or unresolved sin in your life. Why is that? Do you simply ‘love that sin’ more than God? If so, then you have an idol working in you, meaning you love it more than you love God. Or…you have a ‘tick’ that you have been unable to rid yourself of once and for all; and if that is the case…I have good news for you…IF…you want to be free of it. Meet me back here tomorrow. :- )