The “Can’t Stop” Problem of Sin

Someone once said to me the following phrase which has stuck in my head for many years:  “Sin takes you farther than you want to go…keeps you longer than you want ot stay…and costs you more than you want to pay”  I have never forgotten that….probably because it is so true.  In Judges 15 we see the continued spiraling down of Samson.  Samson burns the grain of the Philistines which leads to the Philistines burning his wife and her father with fire.  Then we read this in verse 7:  7 Samson said to them, “Since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.” 8 So he attacked them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; then he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

Samson says that he is going to stop.  But just a few paragraphs later we read where Samson kills another 1,000 people out of vengeance.  Quite simply, he CAN’T stop!  Samson is caught in the web of sin and he can’t control it.  Ultimately, it leads to his death.  But Samson is a lot like me…and probably you.  Tomorrow I want to talk about the “calculation” of sin but this morning I just want to ask you to think about all the times you, like Samson, have said, “After that I will cease”, and yet “after that” you didn’t cease.  We’ve all done it.  Some are still doing it right now.

How do you stop?  You can’t stop on your own.  You need the power of God to help you stop.  Sin is a “can’t stop” issue.  On our own, we can’t stop.  We might be able to stop the action of the sin for a while but on our own we won’t be able to stop the mental part of the sin.  Samson found this out the hard way.  Whatever issues you are struggling with…whatever sin has got you in bondage, cry out to the Lord.  Seek His mercy, grace and power to help you.  You won’t be disappointed.