Our Desires and God's Desires

Intro: I’ll let you in on a little secret that you might know by now - Katy and I LOVE superhero movies… particularly Marvel superhero movies. [have you picked up on that?]

I sometimes think I’m more of a geek now than when I was a kid.

But it seems that if we are watching something on a screen lately, 9 times out of 10 it fits somewhere within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And one of the things that makes superhero movies so compelling is that their characters are multi-dimensional.

If you aren’t familiar with superhero movies, you might tend to think of super-heroes as one dimensional: they are the GOOD guys fighting the BAD guys.

That’s how my kid’s TV shows go… like PJ Masks or Paw Patrol… good guys and bad guys.

But that’s not true of most super-hero movies. Nearly all of them highlight the fatal flaws of the hero.

Sometimes it is difficult to even know if they are good or bad.

But that poses a challenge… because when there are NO perfect heroes, things can seem kind of random. And it can often seem like the stream of evil will never end.

Because you never know when your favorite hero is going to lose to his fatal flaw.

Our hearts LONG for a HERO with ABSOLUTE RIGHTEOUSNESS in order to have any hope of ultimate rescue.

And this dynamic is similar to what we experience when we come to the story of Samson...

Most times in Children’s Story Bibles… or in Sunday School Classes… Samson is made out to be a super-hero.

He is the good guy who rescues his people with super-human strength which is often attributed to the length of his hair.

His only kryptonite, it is either found in cutting his hair… or maybe in is his affection for the deceptive Delilah.

That’s how we teach it to teenage boys so that they don’t go after bad girls.

That’s the story in our Sunday School Memories.

But when we read the TRUE story of Samson, his character is much more questionable than that.

He is NOT a good guy… he has no strength of his own… and he has no concern for rescuing his people. He only wants to indulge his own desires.

And yes I know he is in Hebrews chapter 11 in the “Hall of Faith”… he has some sort of faith… I’ll send an explanation of that later this week… but lets just say for now that while he BELIEVED that the Lord could work powerfully, he did NOT believe that he needed to submit his life to him.

Our faith says more about the object than it does the source… Samson is NOT a HERO of the faith...

But the God who used him is.

In the story of Samson, we do find an ULTIMATE, RIGHTEOUS HERO...

We find someone who is merciful to rescue his people when they don’t even want rescued.

We see someone who is powerful and wise enough to use the sinful actions of mankind for his own purposes.

We see someone who is without sin and will ultimately win the battle over the enemy.

The hero of the story of Samson… as in every story in the Bible… is the Lord God Almighty.

And in this story, we see a fascinating exploration of how our sinful desires destroy us… even while God’s desire is to rescue his people.

In Samson, we see see a man totally determined to indulge his own sinful desire… completely blind to the desires and work of God around him.

The title of today’s sermon is “Our Desires, God’s Desires”… and our Big Idea is this...

Big Idea: Indulging sinful desire will blind you to the Lord's desire to rescue, leading to your destruction.

We are in our 9th study in the book of Judges that we’ve called “Rebellion and Rescue”…

And our goal for this series is to seek the Lord’s merciful rescue to break the cycles of our rebellious sin.

We will never do that if we do not understand how sinful desire blinds us to the Lord’s desire to rescue.

And that’s where we find the nation of Israel in chapter 14 of Judges… completely blind.

Generation after generation has spiraled deeper and deeper into the cycles of sin.

[Show RRR Cycle] If you’ve been with us, you will remember the Rebellion and Rescue Cycle...

That cycle started up again in chapter 13 that we studied last week… [explain cycle in context of Samson narrative]

But we will see that Samson is ANYTHING BUT a righteous Judge… and in the story of Samson we will learn how sinful desire interacts with the Lord’s desire.

[Read and Explain chapter 14]

Indulging sinful desire will blind you to the Lord's desire to rescue, leading to your destruction.

Today, out of the life of Samson, we are going to see...

Four Ways Sinful Desire Will Blind You

1) Sinful desire will deceive you. (14:1-20)

Behind every sinful action is a sinful desire of the heart.

When we deal with sin, we should ask ourselves, “What desires are at play here? What do I WANT?”

Understanding our sinful desires will help us turn and want what the Lord wants instead.

We have to attack sin at the root of desire and motivation.

Samson WANTS whatever he sees.

His heart is gripped by what we call “sensuality” and “lust.”

He does whatever feels good.... whatever is right in his own eyes, instead of what is right in God’s eyes.

Which means that he is DECEIVED about right and wrong.

Not only that, Samson is deceived to think that HE is the strong man after his encounter with the lion.

He has this sense that, “Nothing can touch him.”

He is deceived by the desire of pride.

And so he makes this foolish bet with these Philistine companions...

But the Devil TOO is a roaring lion… and he can’t defeat roaring lions in his own strength.

Ultimately Samson is not as strong as he thinks - his lust is stronger.

His sinful desire gets the better of him by deceiving him in his pride.

Ultimately Samson is deceived about the whole purpose of his life: He is blind to what we the narrator tells us in v. 4 - that the LORD is seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.

The Lord wants to rescue his people and Samson can’t see it… instead he’s trying to get in bed with the enemy.

But here’s the amazing reality of the Lord’s rescue: Samson’s sin is not just something that the Lord works around. It's something that he works through.

This is part of the doctrine that we call “Providence.” That God is working ALL THINGS together to accomplish his plan… he is even working THROUGH the sins of mankind.

In the fallenness of this world, humans are bent toward sin… not all will repent… but God is able to work even the sinful, willful choices of rebellious human beings to accomplish his sovereign plan.

Now that does not mean that he CAUSED their sin directly… James 1 is clear that God cannot tempt anyone because he is sinless.

But it does mean that, in the words of John Piper, God “sees to it” [use air quotes] that even the sinful actions of men work toward the sovereign rescue of his true people.

We can see this most clearly in the cross:

Sinful men falsely accused Jesus.

Sinful men mocked and scorned him.

Sinful men nailed him to a cross.

Sinful men killed him.

And God WILLED that it would be so.

God did not CAUSE their sin, nor did he TEMPT them to sin… quite the opposite… but he did “see to it” that their sinful actions (for which they were personally responsible) would put his Son to death so that his work of deliverance might be accomplished.

And the same is true of Samson. God is not tempting or causing Samson to sin. Samson is responsible for his own sin.

In fact, he is bent toward his sin and blind toward God.

It is evil and he will experience the consequences.

But in God’s mercy toward his people, Samson’s sin becomes the occasion for God’s rescue to be enacted.

This makes God all the more amazing of a hero in this story. God can bring about his rescue through ANYTHING.

Listen: If you will not submit your desires of the Lord, then he will providentially work to fulfill his desires through your sin.

This is good news and this is bad news...

Good news - You can't ruin God's purposes to accomplish his plan.

Some people think, “Oh I’ve really messed up! What if I’ve ruined God’s plan for my life?!?!”

Let me assure you - you are not powerful enough to ruin God’s plan.

And there may be long lasting and far-reaching consequences that the Lord continues to use to refine you…

But God is more powerful than your sin.

If you will not submit your desires of the Lord, then he will providentially work to fulfill his desires through your sin.

Bad news - If you REMAIN BLIND to God’s rescue and never turn to him for mercy, YOU still get destroyed.

The consequences of sin are far-reaching. Sin is not something to be trifled with.

God might use you in his ultimate plan, but you will miss the blessings of his rescue.

Do not be deceived: You are responsible for your sin and it will lead to death.

Spoiler Alert: That’s where Samson’s life is headed.

[Read and Explain 15:1-20]

Four Ways Sinful Desire Will Blind You… 1) Sinful desire will deceive you....

2) Sinful desire will demoralize you. (15:1-20)

It cuts down our will and our morale to keep fighting.

There is a lot that could be said about this chapter and Samson’s motives and his vengeance, but I want to focus here on Judah for a moment… because it gives us insight into where we are in the whole story of Judges.

In chapter 15, we learn why they never cried out to the Lord at the beginning of chapter 13 in the Rebellion and Rescue Cycle…

They had resigned themselves to the fact that the Philistines would rule over them.

They had admitted defeat. They had come to terms with it.

In fact, it almost seems that they PREFER it this way… so much so that they raise up their army against the Lord’s deliverer instead of against their oppressor...

Get this: they were so demoralized by the consequences of their sin that they preferred the oppression of the enemy to God’s mercy.

That’s one of the ways sinful desire works in our hearts: it twists our thinking by demoralizing us… by making us think we are beyond God’s rescue.

And we look at the Israelites and say, “That’s CRAZY! How could they be so blind! God has shown his power to save them so many times!” But how many times do we prefer the slavery of our sin to the joy of leaving it behind?

It’s because sinful desire demoralizes us…

Maybe someone gives into sinful anger again and again and again...

And it comes at a very high cost… it ruins the relationships around them...

But in order to get rid of that anger, they need to trust God that he is going to deal with the things that make them angry…

And they need to trust that HE can accomplish his rescue and HIS RESCUE is better than the consequences of their sin.

So instead of pursuing the joy of that better rescue, they return again and again to the slavery of their sin because that’s what makes sense to them.

Maybe someone SECRETLY gives into an addictive behavior like pornography or drugs...

And they can feel it destroying their souls…

But if they confess it, the cost would be too high…they could lose relationships or livelihoods… they could experience shame...

And then what if confessing it doesn’t actually set them free? What if they lose the battle again?

Sin demoralizes us so that we doubt God’s ability to provide a rescue… and we RESIST the rescue he has already provided.

That’s what Judah is doing… for all of his faults, Samson is still God’s chosen rescuer at this time… and Judah is saying, “No thank you, we prefer the Philistines.”

But God is still able. Even when Judah had no interest in God’s rescuer… even when they turned their back on him and warred AGAINST him rather than FOR him… even then, God still used Samson to slay their enemies.

Praise God that even when we are ignorant of him in our sin...

Even when we were enemies of him… warring against him and his deliverer… in that condition, he still RESCUED US!

While we were still his enemies, Christ died for us.

Even when we doubt… even when we throw up our hands and question if God is still working… HE IS.

And I would URGE YOU… turn to see God’s ability to provide a rescue!

Don’t believe that you are beyond saving… believe GOD for his deliverance from sin!

And instead of fighting against him, FIGHT SIN in the power that Christ has already provided through the Holy Spirit.

Find verses that remind you of God’s power over sin… the victory of Christ… the freedom we have in him…

Memorize those verses… pray those verses.

Resist the enemy’s attempts to demoralize you by clinging to the truth of the gospel.

Not only is Israel demoralized, but at the end of chapter 15 we find Samson at a low point… he is fresh off the battle, back now in Lehi… feeling thirsty and doubtful…

He questions God’s care for him… he assumes he will die.

Samson is SO blind in his sin. But still God is SO merciful.

Really, Samson becomes a picture of Israel’s blindness to God during this period of the Judges.

Samson’s spiritual blindness and slavery to sin will lead to him becoming physically blind and enslaved. We now come to the very famous story of chapter 16 - Samson and Delilah.

[Read and Explain 16:1-22]

Four Ways Sinful Desire Blinds us to God’s Rescue - Sinful desire will deceive you… it will demoralize you… third:

3) Sinful desire will debilitate you. (16:1-22)

Samson is totally given to sensuality - whatever delights his senses, he will obtain. Whatever he sees, he will take.

He is totally given over to pride - assuming that nothing can touch him.

And those desires blind him to being able to see ANY of the warning signs of destruction around him.

The incident with his first Philistine wife and then the Prostitute did not make him think, “Perhaps his sin is getting me into some sticky situations. Maybe I should stop.”

The THREE times Delilah tried to seduce and kill him did not make him think, “Maybe I should break this off.”

And the more and more he gave into his sin, the more it debilitated him.

The seduction of sin is persistent and debilitating. If we do not flee our sinful desires, they will wear us down.

Our only hope is that the Lord remains with us.

I find it so amazing how long the Lord stays with Samson as long as he does. He really wants to use him. He really wants to protect him.

But Samson will not turn to the Lord. He will not seek him. He will not trust him.

And so the Lord leaves him. He gives him over to his sinful desires… with a hint that he will use him once more for his own purposes.

Samson is a picture of Israel: the Lord persistently rescues them… and they persistently ignore him in their sin… and so the Lord gives them over to their sinful desires.

Do you ever forget or ignore the Lord’s mercy to you?

Do you ever take for granted the ways he is protecting and sustaining you even when you don’t deserve it?

Do you ever put off repenting until another day, scoffing his grace?

The more we put off the Lord’s rescue, the more debilitated we will become to experience it.

There comes a time when the Lord says, “Enough. You want your sin, you can have your sin.”

He is LONGSUFFERING AND PATIENT to that point… but be sure it will come.

And if you are in earshot of this message… and your heart is pricked to seek the Lord for his mercy... you can know that the point is not today...

UNLESS... you put repentance off until tomorrow.

You can do nothing without the Lord… call out to him for his merciful rescue.

Confess your sinful desires. Flee temptation. Rely on Jesus. Repent fully. Fight sin.

We might hope that’s what Sampson does next… and what he prays sounds close, but in the end we will see that it’s still all about his sinful desire.

Read and Explain 15:23-31

Four Ways Sinful Desire Blinds us to God’s Rescue - Sinful desire will deceive you… it will demoralize you… it will debilitate you… finally… if not repented,

4) Sinful desire will destroy you. (16:23-31)

God answers Samson’s request… but not for Samson’s motivation. Could God have destroyed the Philistines AND rescued Samson in a way that God got all the glory?

ABSOLUTELY. But that is not what Samson wanted. Samson wanted revenge. He wanted vindication. He wanted glory for himself.

And what he got was destruction. Death.

James 1 is clear: “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:14–15, ESV)

Do you see that tragedy in the life of Samson?

Temptation from without arouses sinful desire from within.

Desire conceives and gives birth to sinful action.

And sinful action grows up and destroys.

Sin… when it is fully grown… brings forth death.

This is the exact path that Samson’s life was traveling all along.

Death is the ultimate blindness. There is no more chance to see God’s purposes or to seek God’s rescue.

Now God’s purposes could not be stopped: he did what he intended... he raised up a deliverer through whom he would begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.

But that deliverer ended up experiencing destruction.

Why? Because he indulged his sin, which left him blind to the Lord’s rescue.

The Lord was the ultimate hero… the ultimate rescuer. And Samson was responsible for his own choices.

Before sin destroys us, we must repent and see that God's rescue is for God's glory.

Any attempt to seek out our own glory will result in our own destruction.

Like we said when we studied the life of Gideon: Do not misunderstand your rescue - it’s about God, not you.

And God wants to rescue you so that you can live a free and abundant life for his glory.

And in his glory is our ultimate good.

As we approach the end of Judges in the last few weeks of this study, we see more and more the tragedy that sin is.

Here is this merciful God… his desire is to rescue. His desire is for his glory and our good.

But his people are blind to it.

Have you been blind to his rescue?

Have you been putting it off during this study… “Oh, I’ll get to it tomorrow”?

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Today is the day of salvation.

Seek God’s merciful rescue to break the cycles of your rebellious sin.

Let’s pray.

https://www.biola.edu/blogs/good-book-blog/2011/handling-heroes-in-hebrews-11

“I mean that Samson believed God would be faithful to his word, but Samson didn’t believe he needed to be faithful to God’s word. He trusted God to empower his gifting, but he didn’t trust God to satisfy his appetites. So he disobeyed God and indulged sin. He was already blind when the Philistines finally got to him.”

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-weakness-of-the-worlds-strongest-man