Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of Scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Up here in our neck of the woods we’ve got a lot of critters running through the forest, one of which is the raccoon. I’ve always liked these furry little creatures, but some people consider them a thief and a nuisance, because they always seem to be going through people’s dumpsters or garbage cans to find food. I can’t imagine how many people have had their coolers raided by them at a campground somewhere. They tend to make a big mess at times, kind of like your kids at the supper table. But I read recently that some people will occasionally trap them to stop them from doing what they are doing. But when a raccoon is left in a trap for a long period of time, studies have shown that a large percentage of them will gnaw off their own leg, in order to finally break free.
This reminds me of a Christian Life.
It sounds like an excruciating thing to go through, doesn’t it, but they do what they have to do in order to free themselves. It is for their own self-preservation. All of us are ensnared to sin, but if you truly want to obtain eternal life, you will have to escape too. You will have to rid yourself from the clutches of sin, completely freeing yourself from its grip, so that you can escape to freedom.
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4
To escape means to break free from something or to avoid it completely. Each of us have our own weaknesses in the flesh, but whatever they may be, we have to overcome them through faithfulness to Christ Jesus. Jesus died on the cross to free us from our sinful condition and when we are baptized into His name, the past sins that we have committed are completely expunged by God. But when we begin the Christian walk, God expects us to completely mortify sinful desires in our lives. Baptism is only the first step of many that will need to be taken to obtain eternal life. Like little traps that are set out in the woods, people can get caught, and ensnared by sin. At that point, they will have to do whatever they must, in order to set themselves free. If they abide in that trap of sin, they will eventually die.
Romans 8 ¹² Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. ¹³ For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Galatians 5:24
Maybe you might remember when they used to keep a prisoner in a ball and chain. Symbolically, the same thing happens when anybody gets involved with sin. They become chained to the flesh and the sinful nature. But the only way to free ourselves from it, is to cut it out of our lives completely through the power of the Holy Spirit. To truly overcome sin, we must be done with sin.
“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works,…… Hebrews 6:1
To overcome sin, means to not get involved with it anymore.
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” Revelation 21:7
We are given great and precious promises through the gospel. We have been given a great opportunity by God through His grace, but in order to finally obtain the promise is going to require action on your part. You must become a doer of God’s Word. Heaven is a place that is prepared for those who have repented of their sins. To do this, we must put to death the old person that we used to be, and become a new creature in Christ Jesus.
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 2 Timothy 2:19
God does not want people to perish, He wants them to repent of their sins. He gives us incredible promises in the scriptures, so that through faith, we might be partakers of the divine nature. The word “might”, is used to express possibility. There is a chance that people can become partakers of the divine nature, but they must escape the snare of sinful living. They must cease the practice of sin by placing their trust in the teachings of scripture. It is only through faithful obedience that we can eventually become pleasing unto God.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
Just as Joseph departed from Potiphar’s wife, each of us must run away from Earthly lusts.
“Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22
Rather than submitting ourselves to the sinful nature, we must yield ourselves to God.
Romans 6 ¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
¹³ Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Jesus warned that we must do whatever it takes, to free ourselves from sin.
Mark 9 ⁴³ And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: ⁴⁴ Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. ⁴⁵ And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: ⁴⁶ Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. ⁴⁷ And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
⁴⁸ Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
If we expect to obtain eternal life, we are going to have to free ourselves from the bondage of sin. We must mortify sinful behavior so that it is no longer a part of our lives. A raccoon will do whatever it takes to free himself from a trap. Are you willing to do the same, in order to escape…..
……The Snare
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 