Completely Destroy Sin

I champion the Israelites as our (current Christians) people because we are, in so many ways, exactly like them. Put simply, we are mirror images of each other in every way that matters, which is why it’s so brilliant to read through the struggles of the Israelite people and identify with them as I do so. It also makes for great teaching material because we can see exactly what helped them succeed and what caused them to fail. If our God is a God of metaphors, which I say He is, then the Israelites are our big metaphor, our great comparison.

And in Deuteronomy, they have quite a lot to teach us on how to best sin.

Doing What We Don’t Want

For me, it’s a fact of the matter that I sometimes feel too weak to stand up to the sin I perpetuate in my life. When I’m in a cycle of, as Paul says, doing things I don’t want to do, that I know are wrong, I frequently feel incapable of driving out the feelings, temptations, and behaviors I know are incorrect.

But what is truly factual is that I, and we, have the strength to destroy sin at its source in the flesh, just as the Israelites did, thanks to the power of God going before us and fighting the battle.

The Big Metaphor

If you pay close attention as you read the Old Testament, you’ll find an incredibly stark contrast between the Israelites and everyone else, and if you break that contrast down to its simplest pieces, you get two different adjectives to describe them. For the Israelites, we have righteous; for everyone else, we have sinful.

It’s fairly easy to work out: God’s people are righteous, just as we are made righteous when we become His today, and everything that is not with God is against God. Every person and thing that does not belong to God is sin.

It’s simple, then, to carry on this idea of the Israelites driving other peoples out of the Promised Land as driving out sin. (It’s even easier to carry on the idea when you read Deut. 7 because the Bible just tells you, but I had to explain the big comparison between the Israelites and us for teaching’s sake.)

The Strength to Thoroughly Destroy Sin

Jumping back up to the idea from the introduction in this post, the Israelites, then, felt too weak to destroy the sin they faced in the Promised Land. If you’ll remember, they were exiled from the land for 40 years because they were too afraid to fight for it, thinking they would be destroyed by the nations in it.

But, what the Israelites, and we, often forgot in fear, is that they had the strength from God to drive out that which does not belong, that which is not good.

Deuteronomy 7:15b, 17-19 says, “He will not put on you all the terrible diseases of Egypt that you know about, but He will inflict them on all who hate you. (17) If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I drive them out?’ do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt: the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you fear.”

Fear of being incapable, fear of the sin we face, even fear of facing God in our failures can hold us back from defeating sin. But God has given us the strength to destroy it, just like He gave the Israelites strength to destroy the nations inhabiting the Promised Land if they would stop being afraid of the people because of what they looked like.

But if we remember the strength of God to defeat our sinful natures and pull us to Him for salvation, if we remember the miracles He worked to draw us away from death in the first place, we’ll remember He easily has the power to inflict destruction on our sin now that we are His.

Why We Fail to Defeat Sin

Sometimes, even though we have the strength of God on our side, we still fail to defeat sin, though, right? Paul most certainly had the Lord with him whenever he was tempted, and still he sinned and did things he didn’t want to do. That’s because, so often, we fail to completely drive out and annihilate sin in the place we live.

Deuteronomy 7:1-2 says, “When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and He drives out many nations before you—the Hittities, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you—and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.”

And just like the Israelites, when we fail to completely destroy sin and route any chances it has at coming back to us, it slithers its way back into our lives. That’s why Matthew 5:29-30 urges us to gouge out our eye or cut off our hand if it causes us to sin because that’s the kind of extremism we need to go to in order to completely eliminate sin. (Please don’t actually go cutting your hands off and pulling your eyes out at the behest of this blog post.) It’s a metaphorical expression of extremism: whatever it takes for you, do it to stop yourself from sinning.

Extremist Application Methods

God’s goal with the Israelites was to create a land without even the barest hint of potential temptation for idolatry because He knew that was the only way the Israelites could resist putting the gods of Earth above Himself. That’s why Deuteronomy 7 is almost completely full of God telling them to destroy literally every last bit of the culture, practices, and evidences of the people who once lived there.

For us, it’s much of the same. When you allow yourself to even briefly consider sin, you’ve opened yourself up to temptation that is difficult to resist (Matthew 5:27-28). That’s why you must go to incredible extremes to avoid the hints of sin all around us. If that means you have to give up social media, TV, music, reading, sports, games, whatever, you should do it until you are capable of standing up to the temptation with God-given strength.

You have to destroy the world around you (metaphorically) to keep it from infecting you with sin until you glow brightly enough with the power of God to walk through the darkness without stumbling.

Resisting the Devil

This last week has been a week preaching to my heart about resisting temptation. My pastor’s been teaching on it for the last three weeks, and though it wasn’t the focus of my Sunday School lesson last night, it did come up in the verses we covered, and I had a pretty neat revelation that I felt I needed to share (yeah, we’re doing Sunday School on a Tuesday because of Coronavirus, but it’s working quite nicely).

There is a small joke that has been running around the Gen Z-younger Millennial Christian community about being convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit and repenting from it. The joke that follows this line of thought regards being convicted of your “favorite sin,” and not wanting to give it up because it’s comfortable or feels good or whatever.

And let’s face it. We all have a “favorite” or “pet” sin that we constantly fall prey to. For some of us, it’s lust, for some it’s anger, for others greed, for others jealousy, for many, it’s gossip. Whatever it is, I feel confident in saying we’ve all got one; I’m sure you’ll find yours if you properly examine your thoughts, words, and actions.

I would argue, however, that it is less our “favorite sin” and more our most common, and easily given in to, temptation. It is the one thing that Satan can trick us with that he knows will get us more often than it won’t. Just as much as I guarantee you that you have a “favorite sin” as it were, I guarantee you that you are tempted by far more things than just that one you happen to give in to.

Just take a few moments to go through your day and all the things that happen in it; mark down all the times something that could have led to sin occurs. I’ll give you a typical example of what could happen by describing a potential day I could live through:

I could wake up in the morning and lie in bed until I’m almost late for work—laziness. I could rush out the door, jump into my car, and drive ten over down the road—Failed to be subject to governing authorities. I could get stuck at a stoplight and yell a few choice words—foul language. I could arrive to work late and tell my boss I got stuck in road work—lie. I could see a pretty girl at work and fantasize about her—lust, adultery. I could hear of my coworker getting a raise and bitterly wish he were fired because I was supposedly next in line for promotion—jealousy. I could arrive home and be short with my parents and refuse to do chores—disrespecting my father and mother.

See what I mean? You can be tempted hundreds or thousands of times a day. But you’re not likely to pay most of those temptations any mind thanks to the renewing of your mind by the Holy Spirit as a believer. This also serves to back up the point that temptation isn’t the sin. Even Jesus was tempted, as seen in Matthew 4:1-11. Temptation is something we cannot control; it’s our reaction to it that we have to work on. And that leads me to the verses that prompted this whole article: Ephesians 4:26-27.

“Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the devil an opportunity.”

First, let’s note that anger is not sin. Anger may lead to sinful behavior, but being rightfully upset by something is not, in and of itself, wrong. Even Jesus was rightfully, and righteously, angry at times—flipping tables in the temple comes to mind. But anger is a temptation to give in to incorrect behavior, just like all the actions I mentioned earlier are temptations to give in to sin.

The important part is not necessarily that you were tempted, but how you react to the temptation, and verse 26 gives us the method. It says to not let the sun go down on your anger. One of the most common things associated with the movement of the sun is the passage of time. So, how do we avoid falling prey to temptation? Deal with it in as short a time as possible. Don’t let it be present in your heart and mind for any longer than it takes you to recognize that it’s temptation. Turn away from the thought, separate yourself mentally from the setting, and turn to Jesus.

There are a number of methods to doing this, though the best is obviously having scripture at hand to quote and remind yourself of the God who can give you all things and provide for you in every way. Whatever works for you, do it. But don’t give Satan time to work, chipping away at your defenses.

If there is one thing the devil is, it’s an opportunist. He’s not omniscient, he’s not omnipresent, and he’s not omnipotent. But he is incredibly sneaky, quick, clever, and dedicated. His only goal is to make sure you suffer with him in Hell. And he’s great at taking advantage of any openings you give him to work at you. While he may not be able to punch a hole in the armor you wear for protection in one hit, give him enough time and he’ll find the hold and slip a blade through.

That’s why verse 27 is so important. To avoid giving the devil an opportunity, you have to make sure you give him as little time as possible to study you while you’re in duress from temptation. If a lustful thought comes across your mind, don’t play around with the idea and flirt with fantasies. Cast it away from you as quickly as you can. The longer you ponder that lust, the more likely you are to give into the temptation and actually commit adultery. (Doing inappropriate things with someone in your head is just as much adultery as doing it physically—Matt. 5:28.)

When your friends start gossiping, either get them to stop or remove yourself from the conversation so that you’re not convinced to join in. Even if your resolve is strong at first, you will break down eventually just to become part of the conversation. For every second you remain, you give Satan an opportunity to get you to sin.

Combat jealousy with encouragement, greed with thankfulness, anger with love and understanding. And do it quickly so that you don’t sit and stew in the feelings and opportunities to do what you know feels good temporarily, what appears to satisfy.

The reason I love verses 26-27 so much is because the whole picture lends itself to this lesson so easily. When you’re really angry at someone, it’s so easy to sit and stew in your emotions and imagine all the mean things you’d say or do to get back at them for how they wronged you. The longer you stew in that anger, the easier it gets for your “justice” to become harsher, and the harder it becomes to show them love and forgiveness as we are called to do.

It’s the exact same with sin and temptation. The longer you play with that temptation, the easier it is to give in to the sin, and the harder it becomes to do what you know is right. So, don’t let time pass in temptation. Hurry and turn to Jesus, rebuking Satan all the while so that you can be protected by the righteous shelter that is Christ.