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There used to be a show on cable television called, "Tales from the Darkside." The title sounds a little more sinister than the series really was, because I’m not one to watch scary movies and such. It was more like the old show, "The Twilight Zone." In one episode, there was an old man who lived with his son and their family, and he loved living there. Early in the episode, the man had a heart attack and died. But he enjoyed being with his family so much, he wouldn’t admit it. He went on living there until he began to decay and decompose. You can imagine what the smell must have been like for the family! [Well, folks, that is what happens to us when we refuse to die to sin. We STINK to God!] OR [You might not want to admit the truth in your life, but sooner or later, the truth will be revealed.]
I have always loved blackberries. When I was a child, my grandmother would take me out blackberry picking so that she could make one of her famous blackberry cobblers. If you have ever picked blackberries, you know that they are heavily protected by very thorny vines. Grandma and I would prepare for the attack on the blackberries by donning boots, heavy jeans and long sleeve shirts (Keep in mind that blackberries are ripe during the hottest part of summer.).
As we would execute our assault on the blackberries, it became very clear that the vines had a battle plan of their own. One vine would grab my right arm as I reached for a plump juicy berry. About the time I got that one loose, another vine would grab my left leg. As the battle pressed on, the entanglement became more and more hopeless. Eventually, the only way to become free of the vines would be to pull clear of the bush completely.
Sin is much like that. We are enticed by something we enjoy or want. In my case I wanted blackberries so my grandmother could make me a delicious backberry cobbler. As I became more and more involved, it became more and more difficult to get away.
When we are enticed by sin, we soon become entangled. The only escape is to pull completely away through the power of the Holy Spirit. Only then can we be free!
CIRCUMCISE YOUR SIN
Thousands of years ago, before Christ was even born, devout Jewish parents would practice rituals or customs when having a child. The first of the customs was that the child be circumcised; the cutting of the skin. This symbolized that you were a part of the family of God.
Take a moment to think about what are some evidences in your life that new things have come, and old things have passed away? Have you been spiritually circumcised? Have you cut the sinful nature out of your life?
When the first federal income tax was being debated in the US Senate in 1913, a senator speaking in opposition to the bill stated: "If we allow this 1 percent foot-in-the-do...
JOHN STOTT ON TEMPTATION
"The command to get rid of troublesome eyes, hands and feet
is an example of our Lord’s use of dramatic figures of speech. What he was advocating was not a literal physical self-maiming, but a ruthless moral self-denial...to reject sinful practices so resolutely that we die to them or put them to death.
"What does this involve in practice?" asks Stott. "Let me elaborate and so interpret Jesus' teaching: If your eye causes you to sin because temptation comes to you through your eyes (objects you see), then pluck out your eyes. That is, don’t look! Behave as if you had actually plucked out your eyes and flung them away, and were blind and so could not see the objects which previously caused you to sin.
"Again, if your hand or foot causes you to sin, because temptation comes to you through your hands (things you do) or your feet (places you visit), then cut them off. That is: don’t do it! Don’t go! Behave as if you had actually cut off your hands and feet, and had flung them away, and were now crippled and so could not do the things or visit the places which previously caused you to sin.'"
--John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, The Bible Speaks Today, p. 89.
DEAD TO GARLIC
The problem is we are so accustomed to sin we do not recognize it's gravity.
I once read the news account of the two Lake Worth, Florida, high school boys. They were suspended from school because they ate so much garlic that no one could stand to have them around. They had read that garlic has properties for cleansing blood and lowering blood pressure. So they each ate half a head of garlic. The next morning for breakfast both students consumed three or four more heads of garlic. When the teachers and students complained about their odor, the boys simply laughed and went on eating garlic. When confronted by school officials, one of the boys stated that it couldn't be all that bad because, "We're blowing in each other's face, and we couldn't smell garlic." They were so accustomed to the garlic, they were desensitized to the smell.
Similarly, we become so accustomed to a world and a heart of sin, that we fail to grasp the depth, the stench, of our sin.
DEAD IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS
Several years ago a movie came out called “Death Becomes Her”. I don’t recommend it. It was dark humor at best, but the few funny parts weren’t worth the cost of the movie rental; much less, a theatre ticket.
But the basic premise of the movie turns out to be a great illustration of the condition of all mankind outside of Christ.
Here is a summary as brief as I can make it: two very vain women want to stay looking young forever. So they accept a potion from some mysterious voodoo-type woman, and drink it.
What the woman doesn’t tell them, is that when they die their bodies will stay animated, although they will then begin to decay.
Obviously, early in the movie both women meet an early ‘demise’. After that, no matter what happens to them they stay animated (‘alive’, if you will), but the damage done to their bodies by falling down stairs, or getting shot, or whatever, stays. As the movie progresses they are using more and more makeup to cover their decay ~ reattaching limbs with glue, or whatever,...not dying, but forever dead.
Like I said, the movie is supposed to be a comedy. But don’t laugh.
Because in reality, this is all of mankind in the eyes of God. We are trying to preserve by natural means what is already dead. We are dead in sin without the righteousness offered in Christ Jesus. We can try to act a...
A man purchased a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the unsuspecting mouse into the snake’s glass cage, where the snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust. The tiny mouse had a serious problem on his hands. At any moment he could be swallowed alive. Obviously, the mouse needed to come up with a brilliant plan.
What did the terrified creature do? He quickly set up work covering the snake with sawdust chips until it was completely buried. With that, the mouse apparently thought he had solved his problem.
The solution; however, came from outside. The man took pity on the silly little mouse and removed him from the cage. No ma...
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