INTRO.- ILL.- Two snakes were out for a stroll, when one turned to the other and asked: "Are we poisonous?"
"Why no, we’re not", said the second.
Again the first snake asked, "Are you sure we’re not poisonous?" "Yes, we are definitely NOT poisonous."
Again the snake asked, "Are you sure we’re not poisonous?" "Yes, as a matter of fact, we are probably the most harmless snakes in the whole world. Why do you ask?" "I just bit my lip!!!"
Most people don’t think there is such a thing as a harmless snake. Most people consider them to be worthless and need to be killed.
ILL.- I was out fishing recently in the country and right in front of me there was a snake swimming along. He/she/it was only a few feet from me. I reached down with my fishing rod, which had a lure attached, and picked up that snake just as pretty as you please. And after I lifted it up out of the water then I wondered what I was going to do with it!
And I really thought I had the hook embedded into its body and therefore that meant I was going to have to kill that varmint to get my bait back. Fortunately for that snake, however, the hook was not embedded and he/she/it slithered right off the hook and back into the water.
Most people don’t have much love for snakes, especially, poisonous snakes. I don’t think this was a poisonous snake though. Still, snakes are not our favorite animals or pets.
If most people see a snake they either run from it or else kill the critter. Some varmints need to be killed.
And varmints, in whatever form, need to be terminated! But not all varmints are in the form of pesky animals.
ILL.- A rabbi asked a wealthy Jew for a loan of a few dollars. The Jew looked up innocently and asked, “Rabbi, didn’t you say yesterday in your sermon that to loan money on interest is the same as killing a person?”
“What?” the rabbi asked in surprise. “I do not intend to borrow on interest. I merely want a loan.”
“Oh, is that it?” the rich Jew retorted. “Then the case is even worse, for in that event I would be killing myself.”
Some things need to be killed in life. And it may be that in a certain way we need to kill ourselves!
Col. 3:5 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…”
What belongs to your earthly nature? Paul has quite a list for us. Here are some things that are a part of the earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed. Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other.
Are you guilty of any of these? Have you ever been guilty? Well, yes, if we are honest about this we’re all guilty of some of these. For example, we may not impure but our dander may get out of control at times. What’s that? Anger.
What about filthy language? It depends on what you consider to be filthy. How about “do not lie to each other.” I’m pretty sure we’ve all told a few white lies. What’s that? A not-so-bad lie but still a lie!
Whatever varmint is tearing up our lives, we need to kill it or at least, put a whupping on it. How? Study. Prayer. Surrender. Service. There is not one single thing we can do to kill sin in our lives. But there are many things that we MUST do! The combination of these things will help to kill what is earthly in us. And it’s a constant work.
PROP.- In this text, there are some strong, powerful reasons for killing the earthly nature in us.
1- Because God is angry
2- Because the new has come
I. BECAUSE GOD IS ANGRY
Col. 3:5-6 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.”
We must put to death whatever belongs to our earthly or sinful nature because God is angry at sin. His wrath is coming.
ILL.- Remember Ken Lay and the Enron scandal/swindle? "Ken" Lay (April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006), was an American businessman, best known for his role in the widely-reported corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Enron Corporation. Lay and Enron became synonymous with corporate abuse and accounting fraud when the scandal broke in 2001. Lay was the CEO and chairman of Enron from 1986 until his resignation on January 23, 2002, except for a few months in 2001 when he was chairman and Jeffrey Skilling was CEO.
On July 7, 2004, Lay was indicted by a grand jury on 11 counts of securities fraud and related charges. On January 31, 2006, following four and a half years of preparation by government prosecutors, Lay’s and Skilling’s trial began in Houston.
Lay was found guilty on May 25, 2006, of 10 counts against him; the judge dismissed the 11th. Because each count carried a maximum 5- to 10-year sentence, legal experts said Lay could have faced 20 to 30 years in prison. However, he died while vacationing in Snowmass, Colorado on July 5, 2006, about three and a half months before his scheduled October 23 sentencing. Preliminary autopsy reports state that he died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. As a result of his death, on October 17, 2006 the federal district court judge who presided over the case vacated Lay’s conviction.
Lay was one of America’s highest-paid CEOs, earning a $42.4 million compensation package in 1999.
I don’t know how much money was lost in that Enron scandal. Millions upon millions, but Ken Lay has come and gone and has faced his judgment.
Was he truly guilty of great greed? Only God knows for sure. If he was (and most people believe he was), then God wasn’t happy with him.
When people are greedy they need to wake up and realize that judgment is coming. Contrary to what some people think, greed is not good!
Judgment is coming! And many people are in a heap of trouble! Or will be. How’s that? Who’s that? For what?
Well, what about those who abuse children and/or molest children? Would you want to be in their shoes at the judgment? I wouldn’t. And most of us would agree that’s probably the worst of the worst sin there is.
We know what God thinks of most sin. We know that God hates sin. That’s one reason why He destroyed the world the first time in the flood.
God’s anger toward sin is still strong. The only reason He hasn’t called a halt to this world is because He is patient, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.
What about us? What about our sin, our earthly nature? Obviously, God, our father, doesn’t want us to live in sin either but often we still struggle with sin. Some days it’s a horrible struggle for us, whatever the sin.
All we can do is continue to fight against sin in our own lives and otherwise, our only hope is to put our trust in the grace and graciousness of God. OUR SALVATION LIES IN THE GRACE OF GOD, NOT OUR GOODNESS! Some days we’re not very good.
ILL.- Justice Gray of the Supreme Court once said to a man who appeared before him in a lower court and escaped penalty by some legal technicality: “I know that you are guilty, and I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge."
Some people in this life may get away with sinful deeds, but not in the next life. God’s wrath is coming and that’s a good reason for straightening up!
II. BECAUSE THE NEW HAS COME
Col. 3:7 “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.” Used to. Past tense.
Col. 3:9-10 “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Put on the new self.
ILL.- Kids today have all kinds of temptation to do evil: booze, cigarettes, drugs, sex, stealing, etc.
Back when I was a kid we had everything but drugs, at least as far as I knew. When I was high school (graduated in 1962) I knew absolutely nothing about drugs. Consequently, drugs were no temptation.
However, beer was a temptation. Girls were a temptation. Stealing was a temptation. Breaking the law was a temptation.
Some of the boys in my class in high school were going to Kansas before they were 18 years old to buy beer. I’m not sure how they did it, unless they borrowed someone’s ID or driver’s license or just conned their way to buy it.
Not me, however. I wouldn’t do it. It wasn’t because I was too good. It’s just that I was too afraid to do it but the day I turned 18 years of age I headed to Kansas to buy some of that 3.2 percent beer. I wanted to find out what that stuff was all about, that is, what drinking was all about. I WANTED TO GET HIGH! And Nina’s Green Parrott in Galena, KS, became a regular stomping ground for me.
When I was about 18 years old I dated a girl that smoked. So guess what? I started smoking too.
When I was 18 years old I had a 1955 Chevy, 4-door, 235 CI Blue Flame six cylinder (136 HP) with a Powerglide transmission and 110 mph speedometer. I had come up in the world. The year was 1963. I remember one time going down South Madison Street and I decided to see how fast my old 55 Chevy would go. I hit 105 mph (eventually) as I recall and then decided I’d better hit the brakes because I was headed for the main four-way stop. When I hit my brakes my car slowed but it didn’t stop!
The brakes faded and I went flying through that four-way stop. It’s a wonder I didn’t hit someone else and kill them and me. Scared the daylights out of me too!
Brothers and sisters, I don’t do some of that stuff anymore! I don’t drink beer and I don’t get drunk. I don’t smoke cigarettes anymore. In fact, I got over both drinking and smoking before I ever became a Christian. Just didn’t like it the stuff. I found out those things weren’t cool.
I still drive faster than I should at times but basically, I don’t do some of that stuff anymore because it’s in the past. I’m older, don’t care about fads, don’t care about getting high, don’t care about trying to impress anyone, and I’ve matured some in Christ!
II Cor. 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Christ does change a person for the better!
ILL.- I heard Wesley Tuttle (1917 – 2003) sing at the Fairview Christian Church in Carthage, MO, one time. He’s dead now but at one time he’d been a country/western singer. He used to sing in bars and nightclubs. And he was a good singer too. He may have been a good sinner too, in the sense of being good at sinning, but when he came to Christ he put it all behind him. He started singing for the Lord in churches and revivals!
One writer said, “Tuttle worked as a writer and host on the country music television program Town Hall Party, but he quit television and canceled his contract with Capitol in 1957 after converting to Christianity. He enrolled in a Christian college to become a minister, and in 1959 made his first gospel album for Sacred Records.
“Tuttle served as Sacred’s musical director and recorded a number of religious albums through 1969 before retiring from music altogether.”
Christ does changes people for the better!
ILL.- London businessman Lindsay Clegg told the story of a warehouse property he was selling. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior.
As he showed a prospective buyer the property, Clegg took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.
"Forget about the repairs," the buyer said. "When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site."
Someone said, “Compared with the renovation God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial as sweeping a warehouse slated for the wrecking ball. When we become God’s, the old life is over. He makes all things new. All he wants is the site and the permission to build.”
God has taken over the building site if we have given our lives to Christ. And He’s in the process of making us into better people and killing whatever is earthly in us. We just need to cooperate with the builder!
Let’s work together with the Lord to kill the varmints in our lives! He’s not against us. He’s for us. Still, a day of reckoning is coming. Let’s be found in Him and on His side.
