Hindrances to Victory: Compromises
Hindrances to Victory • Sermon • Submitted
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Text - Judges 16.15-18
Text - Judges 16.15-18
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
16 And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death,
17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand.
Title - Compromises
Series - Hindrances to Victory
Definition: Compromise
Definition: Compromise
(noun)
settlement of differences reached by mutual concessions
(verb)
to make a shameful or direputable concession
to find a way between to sides or extremes
to reveal or expose to unauthorized person or enemy
origin - literally, to “promise mutually”
two parties make a promise to each other
When compromise IS NOT WRONG?
When compromise IS NOT WRONG?
When the goal is mutual peace or welfare, and no word of God is violated
“agree to disagree”
Jacob and Laban’s agreement at Mizpah
44 Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”
45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
46 Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.
47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
48 And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed,
49 also Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.
50 If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”
51 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me.
52 This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
53 The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
When it upholds the plan of God
Joseph and Mary
20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,
25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.
When compromise IS WRONG
When compromise IS WRONG
when you are forced to disobey God’s word in exchange for a benefit
when we give something valuable to us and God in exchange for pleasure or comfort
Samson’s compromise
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
16 And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death,
17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
he went to Philistine to indulge in pleasures
Judges 16.1-3
this account is towards the end of Samson’s 20 years as judge in Israel
he loved a Philistine woman named Delilah
Judges 16.4
contrast with Judges 14
he met a woman that “pleased him well”
God was looking for an occasion to gifht against the Philistines
1 Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.”
3 Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.”
4 But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
he told her “all his heart”
Judges 16.16-17
HE GAVE UP HIS SECRET IN EXCHANGE OF DELILAH’S LOVE
the results
his enemy captured him, took away his eyes and enslaved him
the LORD departed from him
King David’s compromises
At the time when kings go out to battle, David stayed in the house
1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
His sins
he committed adultery with Bathsheba
he killed Uriah
the results
trouble in his household
10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’
11 Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ”
occasion for his enemies
13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”
How to stay away from compromise
How to stay away from compromise
Beware of “benefits” and “privileges”
Beware of “benefits” and “privileges”
Compromise comes when we begin to feel entitled to benefits and privileges.
Note: friends with benefits
A friends with benefits relationship is one in which two people are physically intimate with one another, yet they’re not committed to each other in any way. People involved in a friends with benefits relationship clearly enjoy spending time together and hooking up, but their relationship isn’t romantic and has no strings attached.
Balaam gave in to the king’s rewards! Numbers 22.1-21
18 Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.
19 Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.”
Abraham escaped compromise with the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah
21 Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth,
23 that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’—
24 except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.”
Value your relationship with God more than any human relationships
Value your relationship with God more than any human relationships
Most compromises take place within human relationships.
Examples
Adam compromised with Even
Abraham compromised with Sarai (about Hagar)
Eli compromised with his sons
Ananias compromised with his wife Saphira
Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.”
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Jesus loved his disciples more than his family
46 While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him.
47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”
48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”
49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!
50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
Levi was praised for his committment to the priesthood
8 And of Levi he said: “Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one, Whom You tested at Massah, And with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah,
9 Who says of his father and mother, ‘I have not seen them’; Nor did he acknowledge his brothers, Or know his own children; For they have observed Your word And kept Your covenant.
10 They shall teach Jacob Your judgments, And Israel Your law. They shall put incense before You, And a whole burnt sacrifice on Your altar.
11 Bless his substance, Lord, And accept the work of his hands; Strike the loins of those who rise against him, And of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”
Paul loved the purpose of God more than his own life
24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Examples from real life
Pastor’s Franco refused to compromised with his sister regarding truth and right fellowship
Paul’s valedictory - “I have kept the faith”
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
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