9/4/26

I met my friend in church after he had been in jail. He was there for breaking his probation and drug charges. He spent his time there and said, "I don't want any part of this life anymore." We talked, and he knew his best bet was to cut ties with that old life and live in his new life with Christ. He was doing really well until Satan put a stumbling block in front of him. Instead of seeking his Lord and his Christian friends for help. He went back to his old friends and sins. He ended up back in jail after a short period of wallowing in the filth of sin.

I counseled a young man many years ago who had come forward at the end of a special service. I shared with him the plan of salvation. He prayed and asked Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. I encouraged him to get involved in the local church and to remove himself from his old ways. He left, and I didn't see him again for many months. I ran into him in town one day, and I asked him how he was doing. He responded Not good. I thought everything would change, but my old friends hounded me. I got mixed up in some stuff I shouldn't have, and now I am really struggling. I said Did you get into a local church as I suggested. I asked whether he had avoided the pitfalls in his old life. He said no.

The Lord reminds us: 2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB1995 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

However, even that new creature can get poison oak if you rub against it. Then you have to suffer the itch and the rash.

Even a freshly washed child will get filthy if he plays in the dirt.

You will get stuck if you try to pet a porcupine.

Things like this need to be avoided, and so do idols, false gods, and old temptations by people of God.

Our text today shows the pitfalls of rubbing shoulders with those who have not been cleansed with the blood of Jesus.

Judges 2:2-3 NASB95 and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? “Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’”

Notice God's warning is not that you shall have no contact with them, but instead you shall not covenant with them. A covenant can be sealed in blood. You don't want to mix the blood of Jesus with the blood of false sacrifice. It can also mean an agreement. You can not make an agreement of truth with lies.

In each case, the pure blood or the pure truth becomes contaminated. God says, do not do this. However, when His people do not obey, God does not release you from His grip. Instead, He allows you to feel the pain of the thorns and the entrapment of the snares.

You will remember the freedom you have while being held in the snare of sin and forced to sleep in a bed of thorns until you are called home.

So strive to obey God and don't live in the false ways of the world, but instead, live in Christ.

Do not get washed in the blood and then go wallow with the pigs. We might have to walk through the pit to get to the pigs, but our goal is to bring them out, not to live with them in the mud.

Love, Brother Scott.