Removing Snares

On Sunday Pastor John spoke of “removing snares” as the third point of his message from Nehemiah 9. Jesus also spoke of removing snares: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30 ESV).
As an illustration of this kind of radical snare-removing sacrifice, John Piper recounts the story of a man who had to make an incredible, yet necessary, sacrifice.

On July 20, 1993, Donald Wyman was clearing land near Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, as part of his work for a mining company. In the process, a tree rolled onto his shin causing a severe break and pinning Wyman to the ground. He cried for help for an hour, but no one came. He concluded that the only way to save his life would be to cut off his leg. So he made a tourniquet out of his shoe string and tightened it with a wrench. Then he took his pocket knife and cut through the skin, muscle, and bone just below the knee and freed himself from the tree. he crawled thirty yards to a bulldozer, drove a quarter-mile to his truck, then maneuvered the standard transmission with his good leg and a hand until he reached a farmer’s house one-and-a-half miles away, with his leg bleeding profusely. Farmer John Huber Jr. helped him get to a hospital where his life was spared.***

Wyman had a life-or-death decision, and he chose life at the cost of his leg. Jesus’ point was similar: when it comes to sin, you have a life-or-death decision to make. Keep on living a lifestyle of sin, and you will die - eternally! Or, by God’s grace and the power of His Sprit (Rom 8:13) you can make the necessary radical decision(s) to remove sources of sin and temptation from your life so that you can live.
Our High School Ministry spoke on this very topic this last week. What radical decisions need to be made so as to remove snares from your life? Maybe you need to breakup with your boyfriend/girlfriend. Maybe you need to cancel the cable/internet subscription, or remove the TV/computer from private places. Maybe you need to not hang out with certain people. These kinds of decisions may save your life, NOT because by making them you earn your salvation or favor in God’s eyes but rather because by them you can “make your election and calling sure” (2 Pet 1:10), that is, prove that faith you claim to possess is indeed saving faith.

***John Piper, Future Grace (Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 1995), 329.