Sin & Struggle | Becoming | Week 7

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign church. We are thrilled you decided to listen to our teaching on your favorite podcast app. If you made a decision to follow Christ today, would you let us know by visiting? Yes.newlife gillette.com Here is this week's teaching. Amen. So let me say welcome to those of you who are watching on church307.com to the guys over at the prison and to our friends at the jail and those of you who are here in the room. How many of you have seen this picture of Donna Kelsey? This is Donna Kelsey for those of you who have lived under a rock for the last couple years. She is the mother of Travis Kelsey and Jason Kelsey. They're both brothers who play in the NFL for two different teams. And so there's this famous moment when the Eagles are playing the Chiefs. Not last year. Let's not talk about that before, when the Eagles and the Chiefs are playing in the Super Bowl. And Donna's like, what do I do? One of my sons is trying to tackle my other son. What do you do when you're a mom and you've got to celebrate, but you can't celebrate when one son tackles the other son? Because that's like celebrating the failure of one of you. I don't know. How do you do that? We call this divided loyalties. My family went to Disney World a few years back, and while we're walking through Animal Kingdom, we were all wearing Chiefs jerseys because we're Christians. And as we're walking, as we're walking down one of the paths, I hear somebody say, there are some Chiefs fans. And I look over and I was like, is that Jason Kelsey? And I said that out loud. And I didn't realize it, but Donna Kelce was standing right beside me. She wasn't wearing her famous jersey, so I didn't realize it. And Donna Kelsey said, yep. And I look at her. I recognize her. And so I run over to Jason Kelsey, and he was wearing a safari costume because that's Jason Kelsey. And so had this conversation with him. It was very short because he's trying to hide from everybody and not be seen. So now I'm in this troubling situation where I am a loyal Chiefs fan, right? Like, he's the enemy, right? I hate him. I'm supposed to. Anyway, as a loyal chief, what do you do now? He's a nice guy. Like, he's a cool guy. We, we, we, we. I want to like Jason Kelce, but I've chosen my loyalties. I'm being pulled in two different directions. Do you have any divided loyalties like you want? Two different things, but those two things are in conflict with each other. This is like the story of my life. I'm guessing many of yours, too. There's so many things that I want. The problem is going after one of the things that I want means I have to go away from the other thing that I want. I want to be a better friend, but I'm kind of an introvert and I just want to stay home and be lazy. Right. I want to be more generous, but I also really like a new Jeep. I want to lose weight. But Mr. Beast bars are so good. Have you ever had one? Highly recommended. Unless you're trying to lose weight, it won't help. But which direction do I go? Going in one direction means I've got to move away from the other thing that I want. We have divided loyalties. And Scripture teaches us often that it is when we are in these divided loyalty situations where we have to pick one side. Christ says he has a path for us. He wants to take us to what is best for us. But our flesh, our sinful desires often pull us away from the things that God has called us. 2. Jesus, brother James said this. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver. For a person with divided loyalties is unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind back and forth. Such people should not expect to receive anything from God. What does that mean? It means God gave you free will. And if you run away from God, if you go in the opposite direction of the things that he's called you to, he's not going to usually remove your free will and force you to do the right thing. He's going to allow you to pursue that. The problem is, as soon as you go in the opposite direction of God, you are bringing pain into your life and pain into our world. If we decide that we want something, then we have to pursue that thing. Because if I try to run towards two different finish lines, I'm not going to finish either. Today I'm going to spend most of my time talking about a character many of you have heard of named Samson in the Old Testament of the Bible. Samson's a judge of Israel. And so when most of us think of Samson, maybe you grew up in Sunday school, you heard the story, you think about one thing. Samson was very. What? Strong. The other day, Darcy and I were driving home from work and we got into a terrible conversation that I do not recommend you ever getting in with your spouse. We were talking about what we find attractive in other people. Dangerous conversation. And my wife said, you know, I've never really been attracted to big muscular guys. I don't think she intended to be mean. But I started thinking, okay, that means one of two things are true. Either you're not attracted to me, or I'm not a big muscular guy. I think we all know the truth. When Samson's mom was pregnant with Samson, an angel appeared to Samson. And the angel says to Samson's mom, listen, Samson's going to be a pretty big deal in Israel. He is going to eventually deliver the nation of Israel. Rescue the nation of Israel from the Philistines. There's this battle in this period of history between the Philistines and the Israelites. And the Philistines are usually winning that battle. The angel said this. Samson will be dedicated to God as a Nazarite. Remember that word from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines. Now, that's a lot of pressure. Can you imagine getting the assignment when you're a little kid? Someday you're going to rescue your nation. It's a big assignment. But Samson is born and begins living his life. And things don't always go as planned, largely because Samson gives in to temptation way too often. And I cannot psychoanalyze him. I'm not a psychologist, but I am guessing there was a pressure to perform that overwhelmed Samson. And he used sin as an escape not to do the things that he was supposed to do. The pressure overwhelmed him. And rather than going to God and asking God to help him carry the weight, instead he used sin as a way of escaping the pressure. In this period when an Israelite would. Was set apart for some special calling, they would take a vow called a Nazarite vow. And that would kind of signal to the world, I'm reserved for some purpose. I've got another objective in my life. And anyone who took the Nazarite vow would commit to doing three things. They would commit to abstaining from drinking alcohol. They would commit to not ever cut their hair. And they would commit to not ever come in contact with a dead body. Not everyone took the vow. This is not required of everyone. This is a special calling for Samson. The problem is Samson had a really hard time obeying the rules of his vow. Mostly because of his sex drive, couldn't control it. He was a walking impulse control disorder. Temptation overwhelmed him. Here's an example. One day when Samson was in Timna, one of The Philistine women caught his eye. Can you relate? Probably not to the Philistine part. But when he returned home, he told his father and mother. A young Philistine woman in Timna caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me. Can you imagine talking to your parents like that? Is this how we pick our girlfriends now? That one. Mom, get her. Initially, his parents object, but they couldn't talk him out of it because, you know, entitlement, all that stuff. And so Samson and his parents have come up with a plan for him to marry this woman. Talk about divided loyalties. Remember, she's Philistine. This is the nation who he's supposed to fight against to deliver the Israelites. And to make a long story short, they set up the wedding. He travels to the wedding. On the way to the wedding, he kills a lion. Then he gets into a fight at the wedding. He gets married, but then gets in a fight with his new wife's family and friends. And then he ends up killing a thousand of them because he's Samson. He's traveling home, sees the dead body of the lion. But now there some bees have made some honey in the lion. So he eats the honey. At one point, he throws a party and celebrates. Has a party with his friends. So the implication of this, what is implied, is that Samson has now come in contact with a dead body drinking alcohol. The implication is now he has broken two of the three Nazarite vows. He's got one left, right? His hair has not been cut. Needless to say, his marriage with this woman from Timna did not work out. And so he finds another girl. Hey there, Delilah. That was the new girl. It's a song, by the way. So he meets Delilah, another attractive woman that's caught his eye. And he decides, okay, now it's now I'm going to marry her. So remember, he's just been in this big fight with the Philistines, and they hate him. So they decide. And the story doesn't actually say that Delilah is a Philistine, but that is kind of what we assume. And these Philistines come to Delilah and they say, hey, Delilah, help us get Samson. Could you find out how we can beat him, how we can defeat. Defeat him. He's too strong for us. We need your help. And so Delilah decides that her loyalty is with the Philistines, not with Samson. Samson's loyalties are divided. I want Delilah, but I'm not supposed to want Delilah. I'm not supposed to pursue Delilah. I'm supposed to Pursue God, sin, and my calling. Which one will I go after? And Samson gives himself more and more over to Delilah. So Samson starts playing this sinful game. This. This relationship is obviously broken, but they're not in the relationship for trust anyway. This is not the type of relationship any of us want. It's just purely for fulfillment, physical fulfillment. To fulfill their sexual desires. Delilah says, what's the secret to your strength, Samson? Samson lies to her. He says, okay, here, do this. Tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings. All my strength will go away. So what does Delilah do? Tie him up with seven bowstrings, calling the Philistines, attack him. He's lost his strength. They attack him. Samson hasn't lost his strength. Gets up, beats them all up. Delilah starts crying, you lied to me. Of course. Your whole relationship is built on a lie that of course he's gonna lie to you. But he still wants something from her, right? His loyalties are still divided. So instead of turning his back on her, she comes back and she says, tell me again. No, really, what is it? How. It's the secret to your strength. He says, okay, tie me up with brand new ropes. That'll do it. So Delilah tied him up with brand new ropes, but he wakes up, breaks free from the ropes, beats up a bunch more Philistines. Can I just say, divorce is bad, but if your spouse is trying to kill you, it's probably a good idea to get away. This is probably a sign we should end things right here, right now. It's gone too far. Not Samson. He still wants something from Delilah. So he sticks with her. She begs again, what's the secret to your strength? He says, well, weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric of your loom, dude. Samson is struggling. He is. He knows what's right, but he's given himself to temptation. He's trying to resist, but temptation keeps coming. Have you ever been there? It's like, I know what I should do, but I also know what I want to do. What is it for you? There comes a time in your life when you realize, I've tried to do this the easy way. The easy way is not going to do it, not going to cut it. I've got to do something hard. I got to do something difficult. I've got to download the accountability software on my phone so my wife can see everything that I do because I'm using my phone for some things that I should not be. I'm going to have to remove all the alcohol from our house and Ask for accountability. Because it just keeps taking me. It's just temptation. It keeps dragging me down. What is it for you? Maybe you need some accountability in your finances, so you bring somebody in to help you look at your budget. What is that thing that just keeps tempting you, keeps pulling you down and you know what you need to do. But man, you're torn. I want both things. At some point you have to decide where are your loyalties really? Who really is your king? Who really is your lord? Are you lukewarm? Are you like half in, half out? I like the God thing. It makes me feel good on Sundays. But I also like my other habits. I'm just gonna try to do both. Eventually, those other habits will keep pulling you down toward more and more pain. It will lead you to a worse and worse life. And not just you, but everybody around you. Sin will destroy your life and it will destroy the lives of people you care about and those you don't even know. So we run from it. We build boundaries. We have to start hating the sin. And I hate it so much that I will do whatever it takes to make it so that when I am tempted, I can resist whatever it takes. Build a boundary. This is the moment Samson's in and he has a choice. Which direction am I going to go? Feels a lot like when I'm on a diet and I have to drive by Taco Bell every day. Have you ever been there? What do I do? Do I change my route? Because I feel like when I think about Taco Bell too much, I get brain farts. I gotta find. I gotta figure out a way so that I can remove the temptation from my life. This isn't good for me. Samson didn't do that. So Delilah tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it. Finally, Samson shared his secret with her. He just given up. My hair has never been cut, he confessed. For I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me and I would become as weak as anyone else. At this point, Samson knows she's going to cut his hair. He's dumb, but he's not that dumb. He is fully aware that she's going to cut his hair. But he has given up. He's done fighting. At some point in your life, you're going to face that. At some point in your life, you're going to say, this temptation has beaten me so many times and I keep failing. And you're going to be tempted to just give up, done fighting. I'll just give myself to it. And it's when you are removed, when you are removed from God to that extent that the real pain comes. That's when you hit rock bottom, when you're done fighting. Because what do we learn through this story? Samson wasn't strong. God in Samson was strong. Samson had no strength. It was God working through Samson that gave him strength. So if you just give up and you say, I don't want God anymore. I'm going to go my own way. That's when all the strength is gone. And any hope you had of the better life. Any hope you had of God's goodness being in your life and working through you is gone. If you have run from God, he can't work through you. So no matter how long you've been fighting it, keep fighting. No matter how many times you've woken up regretting the day before, keep fighting. Why? Because every morning his mercies are new. Every single morning, his grace is sufficient. He will be with you. No matter how many times you fail, he will be with you. And he will continue to give you strength. Your life might not be perfect as quickly as you want it to be. And you may not overcome the temptations as much as you would like to. But you have to keep fighting. Because there is this battle between your flesh and your spirit. And your spirit has to win. God in you has to win. Let his strength work in you to continue to sanctify you. And make you the person that he created you to be. Because that is the good life. That is the better life. God, pursue him with everything you have. And when you go in that direction, there is no regret. There's no waking up with regret. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy. But if you decide that God's way is the good way. You don't have to wake up in the morning anymore and regret yesterday. You may be tired because of yesterday. Because God will ask you to do some hard things. But there's no regret. And so Delilah cuts Samson's hair. And it's not the hair. Samson's strength was not in his hair. It was in his relationship with God. Samson's given himself over to his temptations. And so he's lost the strength of God. So the Philistines come in and attack. And Delilah screams out, samson, the Philistines have come to capture you. When he woke up, he thought, I will do as before and shake myself free. He still thinks he's strong. His arrogance has gotten the better of Him. He doesn't think he needs God anymore. His pride has caused him to think that he can have his strength without God. I will do as before and shake myself free. But he didn't realize. Not that his hair was gone or not that his strength was gone. He didn't realize that. That the Lord had left him. And that's all he had. That's all he had left. Samson believed that his strength would still be available to him. But his strength came from God. And when he ran from God, he lost all of that. We do this too, too often in our lives. We treat God like a spare tire. It's like I want to drag him along and have him there for me when I need Him. But I'm going to live my life. I'm going to do the things I want to do. I'm going to do the things I feel like doing. And then when I feel really guilty, I'll go back to God for a minute, make myself feel better. I'll show up on Sunday and we'll sing some songs that'll make me feel good. But I'm going to keep going my way. I'm going to keep giving myself to the temptations of my flesh. All the while while not realizing we're getting farther and farther away from God. Here's what you have to realize in this fight against temptation, in this fight to become the people that God created us to be. Whatever strength we have is a gift from God. So we must stay connected to Him. We must return to Him. We need Him. We cannot live without Him. When we separate ourselves from Him. The only destination is death. The only end, the only finish line of a life apart from God is pain and death. This is why when we decide to give our lives to Christ, we get new life, eternal life. The goodness that can only come from Him. So if we have this new life, we use this new life to glorify God, to step into our callings, to step into. Into our purposes. Our loyalties are no longer divided. We kill our flesh. The simple temptations are our enemy. So we come up with tools and weapons and things that God gives us in order to fight against them and resist the temptation of the Satan. Maybe you need to remove any access to unfiltered Internet in your life. Maybe you need to sell a vehicle. Maybe you need to quit a job. Maybe you need to block somebody from on your phone. Maybe you need to delete Facebook, whatever it is. Start to hate the sin and run from it. Start running to God fully. Give yourself to Him. Change the habits. Because that's where the life is. That's where the goodness is. But Samson didn't do it. And he has hit rock bottom. So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. This is the result of sin. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced. You ever heard of Gaza? And forced to grind grain in the prison. But before long, his hair began to grow back. Aren't you so thankful that God's mercy is new every morning? That there is no end to his faithfulness, that his grace is sufficient, that no matter how many times you fail, he is so eager to welcome you home. Samson's hair growing back was a metaphor and illustration of lessons learned, of a recognition that his strength came from God. And so at this point, he is blind. He is beaten down. But he remembers that God created him on purpose, for a purpose. To deliver his people from the Philistines. So what happened to the prodigal son? Jesus told the story of the prodigal son. Her son takes his inheritance early. He runs away from home. He pursues every sinful temptation that he has. He does it all rum spring of stuff like, whatever I feel like doing, I'm gonna do it all. And he got to the end of that road and realized all that was there was pain. And in the darkest moment, he decides, at least my dad will welcome me back home. Maybe my dad will welcome me back home as a servant. And he runs back home. And is dad runs to him and welcomes him with open arms. Why? Because the love of the Father is an unconditional love. God's love for you is unconditional. That doesn't mean he wants to let you do whatever you want to do. It just means that if you will turn to him, he will forgive you time and time again. There are no limits to his love. He wants to welcome you home because He. He doesn't love you because you are good. He loves you because he is good. You are not worthy of a relationship with God. But because of his gift, because of his death on the cross and his resurrection, he purchased for you the gift of a relationship with Him. So if you will turn to him, he is faithful and just to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. He will do it. He will save you, and he will sanctify you. So our process, time and time again, is to turn to Him. You wake up every morning and you set your eyes on things above. And you say, God, today you are my Lord. My loyalties are not divided. I want what you have for me. I am your servant. You are my lord. I follow you and you alone. And when you fall, when you fail, you do it again. Keep fighting. And God has promised that if you will let him, he will continue this sanctifying work in your life. He's doing it. It's his strength. You're not strong enough. You will fail. You will fall short. So we turn to him so that his strength in us can do what we can never do in ourselves. So at this point, Samson is blind, beaten down, and he hits rock bottom. And he realizes in the pit that he needs to turn to God. It's kind of what happened to Casey. [00:27:26] Speaker B: I don't know. I guess I needed to go to jail. Like, I needed to go to jail to get that little bit of sobriety, to clean my act up and see. [00:27:35] Speaker A: What was going on. [00:27:36] Speaker B: So got in trouble with the law and ended up in jail. [00:27:40] Speaker A: And it's a wake up call. [00:27:42] Speaker B: It was definitely. It was definitely a wake up call, but it was like, I was. I think I was, like, already three days sober that day. Like, yeah, I just. It was like, God, like, you have to do this to go. To get to here. You know, you're gonna have to go through this to get to that. And it was. I didn't want to do it, you know, but, like, it was out of my hands. It was in his hands at that point. So. [00:28:04] Speaker A: All of us here are here for one of two reasons. Either we were inspired by somebody. Maybe you had good parents who took you to church, or you met a Christian who had something that you wanted. You were inspired, and that's why you're here. But more of us are here because at some point, we went our own way and we hit rock bottom. That's kind of unique about our church. We've got a large population of people who hit rock bottom for a better way, and we ran to God. Amen. Run to God. Stop going your way. It's going to lead you to pain. Turn to him instead. You know, sometimes God lets pain happen in our lives to wake us up. And sometimes God will even cause pain in our lives to wake us up. Thank you, Lord, for the pain that draws me back to you. So one day, Samson is in prison. He's hit rock bottom. He remembers the plan that he has to fulfill. And Sampson said to the young servant who had been leading him by the hand, place my hand against the pillar that hold up the temple. I want to rest against them. Now. The temple was completely filled with people. All the Philistine rulers were there, and There were about 3,000 men and women on the roof who were watching as Samson amused them. Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, he prayed, let me die with the Philistines. And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. The purpose was fulfilled. He woke up to all the things that were keeping him from doing the things that God called him to do. And it was, when he's blind, but he finally sees God. And when he sees God, he can fulfill his purpose. So Samson killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime. This all would have been much easier if he would have just done things God's way. But God's will was still accomplished. God is going to accomplish his will. You can do it the easy way or the hard way. Our sin doesn't make our lives better. It makes our lives more miserable. It leads us. Samson was the prodigal son, but he finally turned back to Christ, to his father. He left God to pursue his own pleasure. But sin led him to pain. So he turned back to God. For years, my Jeep, I had this old windshield that over years, had just become, like, totally pitted out and scratched and dings and all that stuff in the windshield. But I had been driving it through for a long time, so I never saw all the cracks and everything. Until every once in a while, I would turn towards the sun. And all of a sudden, the sun's glare through all those dings and nicks and everything made it so hard. I could barely even see through the windshield. I called windshield paramedic. I called the Roguies. I was like, guys, I need a new windshield. I can't see out of this thing. I don't know what happened. And then I realized when I turn away from the sun, I can't see it. I can totally move on. I can totally drive. This happens in our lives every once in a while. God. We see God, and he puts a magnifying glass on all the things in our lives that need to change, that are keeping us from doing the things that we were created to do, that are keeping us from calling, stepping into our calling. My prayer is that that's what's happening to you this morning, is that you are being made aware of the things in your life that are keeping you from fully giving your loyalty to God. And not because I want you to feel guilty and hate yourself and feel bad about yourself, but because I love you too much to let you just continue in your sin. And if I love you that much, then God loves you more. God's plan for you is that all those things that are dragging you down and are causing you pain will be removed from your life. So you can fully pursue him with everything. But you have to turn into the Son. You have to turn to him so that you can see those things. The truth is, our sin leads us to pain. But God is always inviting us home. Sin keeps us from walking the path that he created us to walk. But when we walk in fellowship with Jesus, he sanctifies us, he heals us, he renews us, and he gives us a new life. Why? Not because he wants you to be miserable and not get to do the things you want to do, but because he wants to show you that the things you want to do will only cause you pain. So we choose to be loyal to God, not to man. We choose to be loyalty to his spirit, not to our flesh. There are some people in this room today watching online who just feel like that's impossible. The checklist to get to where you're describing is just too long. I can't become that person. And the truth is, you're right, you can't. Not on your own. You need God. Only he is strong enough to do it in you. You need a relationship with Him. You need the capability of waking up every morning to his new mercies with a fresh start, a new beginning. If you do not have a relationship with God today, today is the day. Make it happen. There is a card in the chair in front of you that says next steps. Pull it out and say, today I'm beginning my new life. Like I'm putting the flag down. I'm starting over. Today's the day. Check the box. Begin my new life with Christ. If you're watching online, you can go to nextsteps.church307.com don't put it off. Don't shake the emotion. Lean into it. Start over. And for those of you who are here today, and maybe without even realizing, sin has crept in. Maybe you've given yourself to a temptation and it's time to start over. Take a brave step. Maybe there's a difficult text message you need to send. Maybe you need to confess to somebody in your life group and ask for accountability. What is it that. What is the difficult step you need to take to say, I'm done with the pain that this sin is causing in my life? Maybe your drinking habits have gotten out of control. Maybe your web surfing habits have gotten unhealthy what is it? Take a step today God I thank you that you have forgiven us that you give your love to us I thank you for your incredible grace that I can't even comprehend I pray for anybody here today who is trying to decide if they're ready to be loyal to to you or not is trying to decide if they want to make you lord of their life. I pray that you will give them the courage and confidence that your Holy Spirit will reveal you to them in a way that I never could and got to pray for anybody here today who is been struggling with temptation for a long time and is feeling guilty in this moment I pray that you would give them hope and peace and inspiration to do hard things to become the people that you created them to be. God would you give us your incredible strength Will you do through us what we can never do on our own? We are yours we love you In Jesus name Amen.