We must get rid of sin in our lives

Sometime hard times aren’t as bad as we think

As we begin to read the third chapter of Judges we read about how God, tested Israel.  Remember Israel was supposed to get rid of all the inhabitants of the land, but they did not do so.  So God used them to test future generations.  This future generation was to force the remaining tribes out but instead they allowed them to stay and accepted their gods as their own and intermarried with their women.  Let’s understand that God still tests us today, we too have a command from God much like that of Israel, we are to get rid of the sins of our pasts and follow Christ (Hebrews 1:1-12).   It is here that Paul tells us, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress, and run with endurance.  Nowhere in the bible does it say it is ok to let sin stick around.  God may allow temptations to come our direction to test us and to strengthen us but Satan is going to use temptation to drag us down.

We must get rid of sin altogether in our life

Notice here in chapter three of Judges we see the first three Judges that we talked about have three things in common.  When the people of God turned back to God they went to war and many people died.  The people did not just come back to the Lord and continue to live the same as they had under the control of another king.  No they went and got rid of the wicked king, we must do the same in our lives.  We must remember that we must die to this world and live for Christ (Colossians 3:1-22).  Paul tells us to “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you”(vs 5).  We cannot have victory in God if we desire to continue to leave part of our sinful self-intact.  No we must go to war and declare that we are living our lives for God, no matter the cost.

Be careful in times of Peace

Notice here in chapter three we see that after each time of peace Israel sinned again.  During the times that we are not going through testing we must keep vigilant, we need to be making sure that we are not neglecting our salvation or relationship with Christ.  Hebrews chapter two tells us; “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. ² The message God delivered through angels has always proved true, and the people were punished for every violation of the law and every act of disobedience. ³ What makes us think that we can escape if we are indifferent to this great salvation that was announced by the Lord Jesus himself? It was passed on^* to us by those who heard him speak, ⁴ and God verified the message by signs and wonders and various miracles and by giving gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose to do so.”  We must be careful for our enemy is waiting for the correct time to come and pounce on us to destroy us and our faith.