A circuit breaker is an electrical mechanism designed purely to protect an electrical circuit. If too much current of voltage comes from the source of power to the circuit, the breaker pops open to stop the flow of current to everything supplied on that circuit. Light bulbs will not pop, motors will not burn out, wires will not melt because the breaker has done its job. The metaphor of a circuit breaker is a great picture of how the Holy Spirit can do a work in our lives to STOP the dangerous current of what the world is flowing through us into our souls and spirits. Nowhere is this more important than in the area of sexual purity.

For many reasons, the world is pouring seriously dangerous levels of everything the Bible and Jesus tell us we need to avoid, in an attempt to destroy our spirits and souls and send them to Hell. Hollywood and TV networks pour as much sexual information at us as they can through commercials, weekly programs, movies and pay-per-view television. Satan uses these tools to do his work....drawing us away from Jesus, the church and our daily walk with Him.

This is the third year in a row we have dealt with this topic with our teens at Youth Conference. Must be a reason for that, huh? (See the previous two years’ lessons below as a reference....we don’t need to teach the lesson from the same perspective, but the information is a good tool to know more and see where we have come from before.) There is probably no more important, critical and sensitive topic we could discuss that has greater relevance than this topic.

We have looked at David and his downfall with Bathsheba. He was where he shouldn’t have been, he looked where he shouldn’t have looked and when he knew he was being tempted with what he should have resisted (the breaker should have popped, cutting off the source of his temptation), he gave in to the temptation and caused a whole nation to suffer the consequences, as well as his son, his generations and his faith. We looked at Joseph, in contrast to David. When Potiphar’s wife lured him with her own sexual desires, he said “no”, he resisted the urge to fulfil lustful desires and even RAN from the temptation (what to do when the Holy Spirit pops a breaker in our spiritual lives to warn us of the dangerous temptations in our lives that would drive us to destruction). He paid a high price for turning from that temptation. But in the end, God rewarded his faithfulness to Him by lifting him up to a place of prominence in the kingdom.

Take a look at the example of Samson in this year’s lesson. Read Judges 13-16. The similarities to our own experiences are the reason his life is included in the Word. Israel, like America today, did evil in the sight of the Lord (13:1). Samson was chosen to be an instrument of God (vrs 5) as a Nazarite (we too are chosen to be “peculiar” people by the Lord). He was sent to “deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (much like God is choosing many among us to rescue America from the hands of those who would enslave us.

Notice how Samson’s life was supposed to be different:
1. No haircuts, vrs 5 “no razor shall come upon his head”
2. “No wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean” vrs 7
3. “Child shall be a Nazarite (dedicated to God) from the womb to the day of his death.” (Vrs 7)

From Matthew Henry’s Commentary: A Nazarite was one who made “...a vow of separation from the world and devotedness to the services of religion....They must not drink wine or strong drink, nor eat grapes. Those who separate themselves to God, must not gratify the desires of the body, but keep it under control....They must not cut their hair. They must neither poll their heads, nor shave their beards; this was the mark of Samson being a Nazarite. This signified neglect of the body, and of the ease and ornament of it. Those who separate themselves to God, must keep their consciences pure from dead works, and not touch unclean things. All the days of their separation they must be holy to the Lord.”

From the beginning of Samson’s “work”, he neglected and even turned away from his vows as a Nazarite. The obvious main deviation was his inability to resist his thirst for women. He first married a woman from among those he was supposed to free his people (14:3), the Philistines. After the debacle with her, and giving that wife to his best man, he went in to a harlot/prostitute (16:1). That almost got him killed by the Philistines. The most famous incident, of course, is the story of his relationship with Delilah. History suggests that she was also a harlot. She was from the Valley of Sorek, an area famous for the best vineyards in the region, suggesting that maybe on top of turning his back on his total dedication to God, Samson probably violated the principle of no wine or drink....he had already violated the unclean rule when he ate honey from the dead carcass. All that remained now was the hair. We all know the rest of the story. Delilah tempted Samson with his lust for her until she ended up shaving all his hair off. Apart from the final act of his life, where God restored his strength just long enough to kill more Philistines in his death than in all the rest of his life, Samson’s life demonstrated a life given over to the passions that his life was dedicated to resist.

Samson’s “spiritual circuit breaker” was always popping. It always pops from the small things first. With David, it popped when he wasn’t in the field with his army. With Samson, it popped when he started violating the conditions of his calling....touching unclean carcasses, creating mischief and always pushing away the dedication to the Lord he was born with . Instead of detecting the source of why the breaker was popping, David and Samson both fed their lustful desires by seeking fulfilment of them.

The worst thing you can do with a popped circuit breaker is reset it, push it back in, and keep on doing what caused it to pop in the first place. While flying jets in the Air Force and then for UPS, if a breaker popped, you were allowed only ONE RESET in an attempt to find out what was causing it to pop. If you ignore the problem and just keep resetting breakers that have popped, all you do is keep feeding that destructive power source to places the power should not go to. Pilots and mechanics have started fires and burned up airplanes because they didn’t stop the destructive flow of electrical power going to the wrong place. The same was true for David and Samson.

When David and Samson turned their backs on God and His calling in their lives and pursued SIN, a spiritual “circuit breaker” popped, warning of approaching danger if they didn’t do something about the danger. Joseph saw the danger with encouraging satisfaction of lustful temptations and he stopped it. David and Samson just encouraged it, seeking more of the same. Their actions brought on destruction, death and judgment.

When WE are tempted, especially sexually, we need to take action immediately:
1. RECOGNIZE. The breaker popped for a reason. Find the source (temptation) and do not reconnect to deadly sources of power. Say NO to the devil. TURN from wicked ways. Turn the TV off when evil is there. Don’t go to movies where we can be tempted by lust. When we are in places where we can be tempted, get away. Don’t put yourself in situations where lust is the obvious destination (parking, making out, wearing clothes designed to stir up lust, having sex before marriage.)
2. REMEMBER what caused the breaker to pop in the first place. Don’t do that again! Samson kept going back for more. Lust for sex is never satisfied. It always demands new. It always demands more. If left unchecked, it leads to deviant sources for satisfaction. Stop it before it destroys and don’t go back.
3. RETURN. Like Samson, when we give our lives to Jesus, we are “set apart” and dedicated for His purpose and direction. A daily rededication to the principles of our salvation is always critical to our ability to overcome temptation and sin.

If we are going to be successful “SYSTEM BREAKERS”, we need to live holy, committed lives to Jesus. This area of sexual purity and resisting this temptation is so critical because it has become so easy to give in to. It can be the very first area Satan attacks because he knows it can be the very first place we will fail. Christians live defeated lives because they never find power in this area. Let us disconnect from this destructive source of power and reconnect to the power of the Holy Spirit that gives us victory in purity.

---

Click here to download this lesson in a PDF file

Churches and Ministries - Missions - Youth Camp - Conferences - BPH - Leadership - Doctrine - History - Doc Varnell

---

Web Site Designed by Rev Dave Matthews. To contact him, send an e-mail to:
DaveM3333@aol.com

 

page created by daveweb1.com