I want to introduce you to four big Christian men; men who have preached to thousands; men who have known anointing; men who have really done exploits for God.
This is David Loveless. He is about 60. He has been married 37 years. He has three married sons and seven grand-children. And he has done great things for God. He started the Discovery Church in Orlando Florida – which now has about 4,000 members. You can read the reviews on Google. It’s a very popular church.
David Loveless was a successful Christian.
Not now.
Now he is a disgraced Christian. Last year he admitted he had been having an affair with another woman over many years. He has resigned. His name that was once known for preaching the Gospel, is now know for betrayal.
This is Jack Schaap. He is 56 and has been married for about 30 years. ...and for eleven years he has led the First Baptist Church of Hammond in Indiana. His has not 4,000 members – but 40,000. Jack Schaap was also a very successful Christian, famous for his fiery sermons. A strong and anointed man.
Not now.
Now he is a very disgraced Christian. In March last year he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for having sex with a young girl from his church many times during ‘counselling’ sessions.
This is Isaac Hunter - the son of Joel Hunter, the pastor of a mega church and an advisor to Barack Obama. Isaac Hunter started Summit Church in 2002. The church grew fast and now has about 5,000 members. At the age of just 35 Isaac – a married man and father of three children – was Mr Christian Success.
Was.
Isaac Hunter is now dead. In November 2012 he told his church he had been having an affair. Divorce proceedings started – but then about a year later, on 12th October 2013, Isaac shot himself.
This is Rory Alec, the co founder of God TV in the UK. This is a world-wide channel. It can be seen in over 200 million homes by nearly 100 million viewers. It is massive. And it’s been very successful at reaching people with the Gospel.
Rory Alec was the CEO of this successful organisation. Supported by his wife, Wendy. They have been married for twenty years.
Again – was.
In September Rory left his wife for another woman and is now living in South Africa. He does not want to return to God TV.
These are just four stories of big men, who became little because of sex.
They are big little men.
Sadly there are many more.
The aim of my sermon is simple: that we will vow together to win this battle for sexual purity. That we will do all we can to win this battle. That we will learn – from the church and the Bible and take action.
I want to give a battle cry for all us in this room that we are not going to end up as big little men, like a David Loveless or a Jack Schaap, or a Isaac Hunter, or a Rory Alec....
Or a Samson
For the beginning and the end of the Samson story (Judges 13 – 16) are just the same as these four stories.
Samson had a great start to life – an angel announced his birth; he had very godly parents; he was to be a Nazarite for all his life (i.e. completely separated); he was given supernatural strength and for twenty years he judged Israel. He was the mega church pastor of his day. Mr Anointed. Mr Christian Success.
And just as with David Loveless, or Jack Schaaps, or Isaac Hunter, or Rory Alec – so Samson had a humiliating end. He was overwhelmed by his enemies; his eyes were gouged out; he was then set to work like an animal – and to be taunted and mocked like a circus animal. It’s true he managed to get some revenge on his enemies, but still, his end is miserable.
And what was the problem? Same problem as those four Christian leaders. Samson had no discipline when it came to sex – and this cost him his ministry and his life.
That’s a truth that needs to be burnt into our minds: sexual sin will cost us our ministries and maybe our lives.
Let’s read the end part of Samson’s story just to remind ourselves of how depressing it all is
Judges 16
1 – 9/15 - 21
From the whole Samson story, this is the truth in the story I want to emphasize.
Christian men can win the battle for sexual purity if they remember three basic rules; and they will face certain defeat and humiliation if they ignore them.
So – what are these three rules? They are the three rules that Samson did not keep – and so faced the consequences of destructive lust.
RULE 1: RESPECT THE CHURCH
Samson had very godly parents. They had been visited by an angel’s whose name was ‘too wonderful’. He was brought up to keep the Nazarite vows – no wine, no unclean meat, no haircuts. He was given a fantastic start to his life.
He is like a Christian who belongs to a great church – a church that experiences the supernatural, a church that has good teaching, a church that gives the new Christian a fantastic start to life.
And a church that gives advice. On sex and marriage the church says - don’t marry an unbeliever.
But what does Samson do? Look at Judges 14: 1. He sees Taanaz from Timnah – a Philistine woman. And tells his parents, ‘now get her for me’. His parents plead with him to marry someone from his own tribe...which was their right as the parents, and look at his reply in v. 3. ‘Get her for me because she pleases me.’
He wants Taanaz, and he wants her now. And he doesn’t care about what his parents think. There’s no respect.
You can follow the story through about Taanaz. It’s miserable. The wedding is a disaster, the marriage never happens, there is a lot of violence and this girl that Samson wanted so badly ends up getting killed.
It’s the Taanaz tragedy. And at its root is pride. Samson is a symbol of that Christian who thinks it’s all about him, all about his pleasure, all about his life. He will support the church when it suits him; he’ll ignore the church when it suits him. And that’s pride.
On hearing about David Loveless’ adultery this is what one expert said –
"Most of these guys get into sexual sin not because they have runaway lust. Most have runaway pride."
A mental health expert said these sort of people, ‘Act as if the rules were made for everyone - except them’.
This is the first rule for winning the battle for purity. Respect the church; follow the rules.
Yes you might be a good pastor; yes you might be a good preacher; yes you might be very special – in your family, in the church – but the family rules, the church rules are for us.
We are never so special that we don’t have to follow the normal rules that we expect the rest of the church to follow.
Samson’s journey to destruction began with this refusal to follow the normal rules.
It can be the same for us.
RULE 2: BE CAREFUL ABOUT OUR SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD
Samson was a Nazarite; his life was ‘set apart’. It was consecrated. His life was to belong entirely to God. And to show he was set apart he had to follow three laws all his life. He was not to drink wine; he was not to do anything that would make him unclean; and he was not to cut his hair.
These laws, these markers, these boundary lines were outward signs of something inner. In themselves they didn’t look that important – what’s a glass of wine, a bit of sausage, a little hair cut – but because they were boundary lines they were very important. He was a Nazarite. He was not allowed to cross these lines.
But he did. He wasn’t careful about his need to keep separate.
On this way to sort out the wedding arrangements with Taanaz from Timnah Samson – with his superhuman strength – killed a lion that was attacking the vineyards. That’s fine. That is what God’s big men are meant to do. Kill lions who are attacking God’s vineyard, God’s people.
But then we hit a problem. On his way to the actual wedding, Samson starts poking about the carcass of the lion. He was crossing the boundary. He wasn’t meant to touch any dead body – not even the corpses of his own parents, let alone a random lion. It would make him unclean. But he does and because he does he finds the honey which he enjoys eating...and look at Judges 14: 9 he keeps on eating it. This honey is forbidden pleasure, but he doesn’t discipline himself. It’s because of the honey his wedding turns out to be a disaster.
Then in verse 10 he almost certainly crosses another line. It says he ‘made a feast’. The word feast there really means – lots of drinking...’as the young men were accustomed to do’. Samson was doing what the rest of the Philistines did. He was having drinking heavily. But he knew very well he was not to touch any wine.
Samson is meant to be living a separate life, more separate than the average Israeli. But he was not careful about this. So we find him eating honey from the carcass of a lion; drinking wine; at his wedding where he’s marrying a Philistine.
Every Christian is meant to be consecrated; separate.
Look at Romans 12 v 1 – 2...we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice...do not be conformed to this world. Or Jude 1:23 where we are to hate even the garment spotted by the flesh. Or 2 Corinthians 6:17, ‘Come out from them and be separate...’
We belong wholly to God. And that means that – like Samson – there are certain signs, certain boundaries lines that we must not cross. These are not always the same for every Christian – but every Christian must have a boundary with the world. Thus far – and no further. Some will never play cards or any gambling game; others won’t watch TV; others will never go to the cinema; others won’t drink; most will not smoke; some will not listen to rock music.
There was a dear missionary couple who went to Shiraz – Dr John and Audrey Coleman. Dr Coleman became famous in the city for his surgery. He was very popular. And he loved all the good things in life. But he had boundaries. He would never drink; and he wouldn’t shop on Sundays. It was a special day for him. By these small signs he showed he was different from other people.
Sam’s father – known as Papa Seth – is also famous – and he is famous for the boundary he put between his life and the world. He called television, hellevision. Everywhere he went he carried his Bible. Some say he was too strict; but nobody can deny his life had impact.
I have another friend who crossed a line. He nearly lost his marriage. The line he crossed was on facebook. An old school friend got in touch with him. She was pretty when he was at school; she was still pretty ten or more years later. He replied – without telling his wife. He had crossed a line. The chatting continued. And then she said she wanted to have sex with him. To his credit my Christian friend said that this wasn’t a good idea. But she persisted. One day my friend left his laptop at home and his brother in law went to use it and it opened up on that facebook page...the atmosphere in that family went black. My friend nearly lost his wife. He had ignored a boundary – and very nearly paid a terrible price.
There is a world out there that ignores God and lives for pleasure.
We must be separate from this world and we need to know what our boundary lines are – and keep to them.
Samson didn’t.
Samson broke rule number one. He didn’t respect his parents.
Then he broke rule number two. He didn’t respect the boundary lines...
And because he broke these two rules – he found it easy to break the third rule.
He played with illicit sex and so lost the battle for sexual purity and faced certain humiliation.
RULE 3: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF SEX
Samson’s last chapter in the Bible is all about illicit sex and the destruction it brings. The lesson for us all is very clear: never underestimate the power of sex.
In verse one Samson goes to Gaza, a town full of foreigners, sees a prostitute, and goes into her. Maybe he specially wanted to go to a foreign town because he wanted sex and didn’t want people in his home town to see him. That’s what happens a lot today. People go to Las Vegas; Thailand; I’m sure there are places in Iran. The only problem for Samson was that these foreigners were his enemies. He knew this. But he still went into the prostitute.
That’s the power of sex.
And probably all of us know that power. The sexual temptation begins, we allow the fantasies to develop, and before we know it we’re wanting to visit a prostitute – or a page on a website – even though we know this can risk our ministries, our marriages, even our lives.
Samson managed to escape the people from Gaza; but now he’s fed his sexual appetite – he wants more. That’s another grim reality about the power of illicit sex. It always demands more. Once is never enough – even when we know there are dangers.
The next foreign woman is much worse than the prostitute. Her name is Delilah and she is cruel and calculating.
With her looks and sex appeal she hauls Samson in like a fish on a hook. Then she holds up her victim and literally sells him to his enemies. If she can find out the secret of his strength they will give her eleven hundred pieces of silver. That’s millions of dollars.
It’s pretty clear what the deal is between Delilah and Samson. She teases him, and when he wants to go to bed with her, she asks him what his secret is...and such is the power of sex that Samson will do anything to go where he wants to go.
First he lies and then even though he knows it is dangerous – he tells her the truth.
‘No razor has come on my head’.
The big man who should be killing the lions attacking God’s enemies, has become a very little man asleep on the lap of a woman from the enemy’s camp.
The ruthless money lusting Deliah has all the hair of the sex lusting Samson cut off.
And when Samson wakes up and tries to fight off his enemies, he has no strength.
Why did he tell her the truth? Because of the power of sex. Like a heroine addict, there was only one thing on his mind. He didn’t care about the consequences.
And there’s something else.
Until now he had crossed every line and got away with it – he’d blanked his parents, eaten the honey, drunk the wine, gone to a prostitute...there had been warnings, but his strength had remained. Why should this be any different he thought? But this time it was.
We cannot keep on abusing God’s grace. He will graciously keep us from disaster; but if we keep on playing with illicit sex, He will eventually withdraw.
Our final scene: a blind Samson, in shackles, working at the mill, soon to be a party exhibit.
What a warning to us all. Don’t underestimate the power of sex. Don’t play with illicit sex. Don’t let it even have a millimetre in your heart. Don’t think you’ll be different, you’ll be able to handle it.
Right here in this room there might be the young David Loveless or Jack Schaap or Isaac Hunter, or Rory Alec...Like them you are anointed, strong, big men doing big things for God...planting churches, seeing Muslims repent, seeing healings and answers to prayer.
But those four became little men:
David Loveless, disgraced; Jack Schaap in prison; Isaac Hunter dead; Rory Alec, a traitor to God TV.
They got swept away by the destructive power of lust.
When I die I want my wife and children to remember me as a faithful husband and father. I don’t want them to have any memory of me as a traitor. I don’t want to get hit by destructive lust. I want to win this battle for sexual purity.
CONCLUSION
We can win the battle for purity; we can become big men and stay big men. Yes – sexual temptation will be a lion growling at us all our lives, and sometimes we will get mauled - but like the true Samson we can pull it apart in the name of Jesus.
But we must follow these three rules.
Listen to the church.
Keep a boundary with the world
Never go anywhere near illicit sex.
Samson was meant be a big man, killing the lions that were attacking God’s people.
That’s God’s will for us too. He wants us to be big men, not big on the outside and little on the inside, but big on the outside and the inside.
And the Spirit of the Big Man is with us here tonight. We might feel helpless before the cold winds of sexual temptation; sometimes they are so strong – but He is stronger. His Spirit is more powerful than the law of sin and death; He can break that vicious cycle of sin.
Let’s turn to Him
And if there is someone here who feels they have been captured like Samson and they are pushing the mill in the enemy’s territory during the day, and at night the enemy taunts them...there is one verse from the Samson story I’d like to remind you of...Judges 16: 22 – ‘but the hair of his head began to grow again’.
Samson suffered, but the story wasn’t completely over.
It never is with Jesus.
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