Destroy Sinful Influences

"Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, 'Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, "When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the larger you shall give more inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give less inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to anyone, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you."'" -Numbers 33.50-56

This is one of those difficult passages in the Bible for some. It is passages like this that lead Marcion, an early church leader, to make a distinction between the God seen in the Old Testament, and God, the father of Jesus, portrayed in the New Testament. Here we have God telling Israel, to completely wipe out entire people groups. They are to go in and take the Promised Land, destroying all who live in the land.

If we pay attention as we read we can see that the purpose of this genocide was to remove all paganism and idolatry from the land so that God's people would not be led astray by it. God reminds them that this is their land, given to them by Himself, and that they are to take it. As long as they do what God has commanded with the inhabitants everything will be fine, but if not the people who are allowed to remain will become a hinderance, and instead God will drive Israel from the land.

From this passage we see that if we would live obediently as God's people, we must remove all sin, from our lives. We must remove all the evil influences and allow them to have no place in our homes. If we don't deal with these things they will come back to bite us later, and could very well lead to our destruction.

Men, are you willing to wipe out sin from your house? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to remove the influence of sin from your life? It might me avoiding a certain crowd or setting. It could mean giving up a hobby or an addiction. It most likely won't be easy, but if you don't it very well could destroy you. Are you willing to take that risk? Is that thing more important than your soul, or the souls of your family?

As we'll see, Israel fails to obey God's command, and it costs them the life that God had offered to them. Let us learn from their mistake. Let us deal with the issues. May we destroy sinful influences.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor