You must take radical steps to guard your hearts and minds from anything that leads you away from God. Whether it’s a habit, relationship, environment, or thought pattern—if it’s pulling you into sin, it has no place in your life, and you must get rid of it.
Hebrews 12:1 says to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely.” Sin doesn’t just stain—it entangles, it traps. You are called to freedom, not bondage, so get rid of it.
Holiness requires discipline and sometimes painful decisions. What you surrender in the flesh, you gain in the Spirit. Jesus didn’t die for you to remain entangled in the very things He came to break you free from.
This message is a wake-up call to spiritual surgery—cut off what corrupts, and pursue what purifies. God offers grace not only to forgive sin, but to empower you to overcome it. Choose life. Choose obedience. Choose freedom. Choose to get rid of it.
Referenced Verses:
Matthew 5:29-30
Romans 6:12
Hebrews 12:1
Ephesians 4:22-23
Proverbs 4:14-15
Proverbs 13:20
Video Transcript
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We’ve got a good sermon for you today called “Get Rid Of It.” It is something that is very, very important in today’s world because we, in today’s society, are becoming tolerant or sensitized, accepting, even affirming, proud of all of these things that are contrary to the Bible, and we cannot have that. We need to get rid of it.
Those need to go away. We have zero tolerance. We cannot have it. Unacceptable. They are not good. This sermon goes hand-in-hand with a few other sermons we have. They’re not a series, not really a playlist.
But we’re talking more about what happens when you accept things and bring them in. The Bible says if your right eye causes you to stumble, to gouge it out and throw it away. That’s in Matthew. We’ll probably get to that verse later.
The point is, this is a set of sermons. We’ve talked about it before because it’s so important. “Be Careful Little Eyes” is one that we had, and we will have another one on the eye as the lamp of the body. And so it’s very important that when you see these things, because most of the time that’s how you’re taking it in.
You are seeing it either on the news or at a store, or in your real life, like it’s happening in your family or at your workplace, or you are choosing to look upon these things in sinful desire. And all of that is unacceptable. You need to get rid of it. No exceptions, no ifs, ands, or buts. Get rid of it.
In fact, some of you may be holding on to things in your life. This is, this is a, a, a get out of the way moment. I am getting out of the way, speaking to you. It’s not me. The Holy Spirit is coming in. He’s teaching you.
If a teacher does their job properly, they do not teach you. It is the Holy Spirit that leads you into all truth, that teaches you. Remember the Bible says, “I will speak for you and tell you what to say.” That’s the Holy Spirit that will speak for you—the Holy Spirit.
So when you’re teaching others, get out of your own way. Let the Holy Spirit work through you right now. Some of you are holding on to things from your past—things that, if you are married right now and you are in a relationship.
Or if you are married or you have a significant other, and you have things in your life from previous relationships, you need to get rid of it. They need to go. “Well, but they—I love this travel mug.”
Yes, but it came from an old girlfriend or something. It’s got to go. There can be nothing that reminds you of that. “Well, it’s not sinful.” Doesn’t matter. It’s ammunition waiting there. It’s a ticking time bomb for the enemy to use. Get rid of it.
“Well, I love the shirt that I got. I wear it all the time.” Get rid of it. It’s got to go. If it has any association to an old romantic relationship that you no longer have, it needs to go.
“But this necklace is worth a lot of money. My, my boyfriend in high school gave it to me. It’s a real d.” I don’t care. Get rid of it because that is a ticking time bomb. It is ammunition.
The second that you have an argument with your current relationship, and you are reminded of that, that becomes ammunition. Remember, so-and-so that was, and then this relationship will start to suffer. Get rid of it. You do not need it in your life.
“If your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” We have a sermon on “Hell.” Check that out.
It’s part of a series called “The Resurrection, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.” Check that out. “If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into Hell.”
That’s taken from Matthew 5:29 and 30. You can read those verses to learn more, but that’s pretty much verbatim. If something in your life, Jesus is not telling you to cut off your hand or to gouge out your eye.
Let me just—no, He’s not saying that. He’s saying if there is something in your life, either coming in through your eyes or through your hands, like you are doing something evil or you are seeing something evil, that you need to cut that off of your life.
Cut it out of your life. Get rid of it. We’ve talked about it before. Or like, if your computer causes you to sin or something, then you need to get rid of your computer or install some protection on there that blocks those websites or whatever the case is. It’s pretty self-explanatory. If something causes you to sin or is leading you to sin, then you need to get rid of it.
Because, as believers in Christ, you have chosen to be dead to sin. And God, for His sake and as an added benefit for your sake, remembers your sins no more.
That means if you are a believer in Christ, if you are a Christian, you do not live in sin. So people say, “Hey Spencer, can Christians sin?” Yes, they can sin. We can make mistakes. We can screw up.
Can Christians live a sinful lifestyle? “I know someone, they say, they say they’re a Christian, but they’re an alcoholic.” They’re not a Christian. A Christian would not be an alcoholic. That is a sinful lifestyle.
“I know someone, they’re a Christian, but they watch pornography.” A Christian would not watch pornography because they hate sin. If they have truly repented and truly turned to God, they would hate what they used to do.
Now, could they slip up, and it happens once in a while, if they were formerly addicted? Yes. But it shouldn’t happen because they should have crucified that and killed it and overcome with the blood of Christ.
Like the Salvation Army—you say, “Oh, the thrift store?” Yeah, before they were a thrift store, they were a powerful force for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven.
They still are, but they used to be a lot better. They would rescue people out of human trafficking—or not really rescue them. They would go to, like, a brothel. You say, “What is that?” It’s a whorehouse. Oh, bad word. Yes.
You know what? They used to be houses of prostitution that people would go to and pay for this. And so what they would do is rescue someone out of that life. They would take the prostitute out, bring them to their facility.
They would give them new clothes, practically like basic training in the military. They would pretty much give them a new identity, help them find their identity in Christ, change, help them change. Disciple them.
They’d be there for like, whatever, six weeks, couple months, and then they didn’t say, “All right, go on your way.” They said, “No, go back to the brothel. Stand outside. Rescue more people.”
And that former prostitute went right back to that lifestyle. They didn’t go back into the lifestyle. They were strong enough and remade new. They crucified that sinful desire, and they had now overcome and overpowered it. And now they were rescuing people.
That’s what God wants for you. There are reasons why former drug addicts make the best addiction counselors or the best people to help other people get out of it, because they have overcome. If something causes you to sin, you need to get rid of it. Let’s go to Romans.
Romans 6:12. Excellent verse: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” If someone is living in sin, sin is reigning in their body. Christians do not allow sin to reign in their body. Why?
The definition of a Christian is “in Christ” or “Christlike.” They have made Christ the Lord of their life. So Jesus Christ should be reigning in their mortal body, not sin. So yes, these verses they don’t mean for you to literally gouge out your eye or cut off your hand.
They’re metaphors telling you that if something in your life is a stumbling block or a hindrance, then you need to throw it away.
Let’s go to Hebrews 12:1: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
This is an interesting chapter. You should read it later. All of the verses are referenced in the description below or on our website. But since you are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses—if you’re not, then you need to be.
Get around more believers, more Christians who are strong, who are Bible-believing, Bible-doing Christians, not living in sin. Get around them and throw off everything that hinders you, and throw off the sin that so easily entangles you.
And then what? Run the race. What does this mean? Does it mean you just need to run the race, and you know what, I’m really happy just running the race? It’s a marathon. I got second place. I got fifth place, whatever. At least I finished. No. Unacceptable. When you are running a race, you need to finish first. That’s who gets the prize. The prize is for you. Run the race.
How does Paul tell you? Or the writer of Hebrews—we speculate that it’s Paul, but it might not have been Paul. So the writer of Hebrews says, “Run it. Run that race. Finish strong. Win that race with perseverance. The winner gets the prize. You must win.”
Like, fight the good fight of faith. The only good fight is a fight you win. You lose a fight. You don’t say that was a good fight. No, that was a bad fight. You lost. Don’t lose.
If there’s something in your life causing you to sin, get rid of it, because guess what? That is a trump card for the enemy to use, and you will lose. Let’s go to Ephesians 4:22-23.
Ephesians 4:22-23: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new with the attitude of your minds.” You need to put off that old self. Get rid of it. Put on the new self, your new identity in Christ.
If you don’t know your identity in Christ, then you need to take some time and learn it. Watch more of our sermons. We have several on “Purpose.” That would be—those would be great. That’s a great playlist for you to check out.
I’ll put it up here in a card on YouTube if you’re watching. You can check out that playlist on “You Have a Purpose,” or just go to our website, type in “Purpose” in the search bar, and you will find that.
You need to discover your true identity, your calling in Christ to live here on this Earth, to run the way, the race, to win the race, to fight the good fight, to win. You’re not just a runner and a fighter. You are a winner. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
So if there is something in your life, anything in your life that is either sinful, that is causing you to sin, that could potentially be used as ammunition. I’m talking anything. Like, for example, let’s say you have a Buddha on your shelf. It’s a, a nice sculpture. “Oh, well, that’s marble, or it’s jade.
That’s very valuable. I really like it. I have a little light behind it when the light hits it or something. It like glows. It looks really cool. I don’t worship Buddha or anything, but I like having that.”
No. Unacceptable. Get rid of it. Why? Because that is an idol. You should not have an idol in your house. Are you kidding me? “Oh, well, well, no.” Unacceptable. Maybe you went to Egypt, and you’ve got a sphinx, or you have, whatever—the pyramids or something. Nope. Unacceptable. Get rid of them. Why? “Hey, those are just souvenirs.”
I don’t care. What do they represent? They represent false deities. They represent human power. You say, “Well, I still like—” No. Get rid of them.
Maybe you say, “I do yoga, and it helps me relax.” I don’t care. Unacceptable. “Well, why?” Yoga was a Buddhist or Hindu practice for doing what? Unlocking the mind, clearing their mind.
God doesn’t want your mind clear. He wants your mind filled with Scripture. They were trying to receive some type of enlightenment—false deities, gods, demon worship. Unacceptable. You want to learn more about it? Dive in. Okay, these things in your life need to go. The simplest way for me to put it is when you’re doing those things, don’t do it.
Even like martial arts—those poses and those forms are poses and forms to get more power, to receive more power from the, from demons. You say, “No, I like to learn to fight.”
No. That’s not acceptable. You can learn to fight if you want, but when you’re doing these poses and symbols, and you’re standing in certain ways to receive more power, dig into the roots of the forms and you will learn that they are ancient practices—often from far East religions—that are meant to have certain poses to draw in power from another energy source.
Where do you think that energy is coming from? You say, “I have a healing crystal.” No. Unacceptable. Where do you think that’s coming from? No. Get rid of it.
“Well, I like to do the daily horoscope in the newspaper.” No. Get rid of it. That is unacceptable. What is all of that? It is all coming from false doctrine. Demonic practices. Demon worship.
You say, “I’m not worshiping demons. I’m not worshiping false gods. I like my statue. I like the horoscope, I like this. It’s something fun. I know my zodiac sign.” No. The origins of all of that is evil. It is rooted in evil.
You may not be thinking like that now, but you need to take into consideration that this is real. If you are not fighting against the enemy, the enemy is fighting against you, and he is winning.
You say, “I’m not fighting.” That’s why you’re losing. This is serious business. All of these things have meaning. They represent something. The physical object can be tied to the spiritual realm, even if you don’t understand what it is or what it means, or you don’t see it that way.
You say, “I have it, but I’m not attributing any power to it.” It doesn’t matter. There is, if you’re not attributing power there, that is still an open door. That is an access point.
That is something that the enemy can use someday when, all of a sudden, you might have a light switch flick on and say, “Oh, this practice can do this.” And you might experiment. You might see it.
Get rid of it. Remove it. That’s what Jesus is saying here. Gouge it out and throw it away because He does not even want you to have the possibility of being tempted in that, or the possibility of learning it.
So, like, “Oh, well, I might want to practice using witchcraft or sorcery to learn this stuff so that I can better understand it.” Bad idea. “Well, I like having an Ouija board to be—” No way.
I don’t care what it is. If it has any type of connotation or ties to witchcraft or evil or demonic, or other religions, it needs to go. It cannot be in your house. You say, “Well, I have a tapestry of, of a, of an Indian—like from India—wedding ceremony, and it has some kind of a whatever goddess or god on there.”
Get rid of it. Any of that. All of that. What do you think they’re worshiping? If they’re not worshiping the one true God, they are worshiping a fallen angel—a demon. You say, “Really?
All those other gods, like Shiva and Vishnu and Krishna and this and that?” Yes. “Allah?” Yeah, the Muslims too. “Well, no, they have the God of Abraham.”
No. You know what “Allah” means? Yeah, that’s what they call their god—but that’s not what that means. It comes from the moon, meaning they’re worshiping the moon god. That’s a demon.
These things are real. This is serious business. If you have anything tied to any other religion: statues, masks, tribal things, Native American, New Age crystals—whatever, get rid of it. It is better for you to lose that thing than to go to Hell.
Check out that playlist: “Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.” You’re going to like that. If your computer causes you to sin, you’ve got to tighten that up. Get rid of your computer, or whatever component of your computer leads you to sin.
If you have books that lead you to think and engage in a sinful way—if there’s a TV show that is causing you to go into sin—stop watching it. Get rid of it. Whatever it is. If there is something in your life. If you have friends that lead you into sin.
You have friends that like to go out drinking. Get rid of it. What do you think they call alcohol? Spirits. Those are spirits you’re inviting in. You say, “No, come on now. You’re just getting funny.” I’m not. This is serious business.
And it is time for you—the body of Christ, the believer in Christ, the true Christian—to take this seriously. This is real stuff. And if you’re not taking it seriously, you are losing the fight, and you are misrepresenting Jesus Christ. So, you need to take this seriously.
If you have friends in your life that like to go out and do sinful things, then you need to cut those friends out of your life. You say, “Well, I want to change them.” Try to change them. If they don’t change, you’ve got to get rid of them. Maybe it’s time for you to make some new friends.
Let’s go to Proverbs 4:14–15. Proverbs 4:14–15: “Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.”
In case you missed the point: avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn from it. Go on your way. Can I be more specific? I can’t. If you don’t get it, you’re in trouble. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn from it. Go on your way.
If you have bad friends, remember they will pull you down. We have a sermon on that: “Pull You Down.” Check that out. You need to get rid of them. You need to make new friends.
Let’s go to Proverbs 13:20, “Walk with the wise and become wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”
If there is anything or anyone in your life that is negative, toxic, gossips, slandering, sinful—anything like that, or anyone like that—anyone open to those other practices or ideas—they need to go. You need to get rid of it in your life. Get rid of it.
Let’s pray.
Father, thank you so much for this message. This is a very timely message for today. Help each and every person watching and listening to really consider what is going on in their life.
To really analyze each and everything in their house, from that rabbit’s foot they had when they were a child to the picture that they have today of some statue somewhere in another country—that they would examine all of that and get rid of it.
Father, stir up the spirit within them. Help them find those things in their house and get rid of them. They need to cut it out of their life. It needs to go.
And if there are friendships that are bad, that are toxic to their Christianity, Father, help them to move on. To sever, or have those other people change. Obviously, they don’t need to just walk away.
They need to pray for those people. They need to work on them. But if they are unwilling, God, give them the wisdom and the discernment to know when and how to walk away.
Reveal to them anything in their life that is not of you. Give them the word from the Spirit—the function to know exactly where to look.
Something they hadn’t seen in 20 years, they remember it’s in a shoebox in the basement or up in the attic. And they go, and they find it, and they say, “I need to get rid of this.”
And God, when they see that thing, break every chain and attachment. Because oftentimes, when we as humans go and find something old, we say, “No, this still has value.” It hasn’t. You haven’t seen it in 20 years. Get rid of it. Break those ties. Break those chains.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
I understand this is a heavy topic, and it can be very concerning for you. If you have any questions or comments, please post them on the YouTube channel or in the comment section below. In addition, you can go to our Discord server, into the sermon discussion there, and ask any questions you like as well.
Please, I urge you—take a look at your life and get rid of anything in there that is not of God.
Have a great week, and God bless.
