A Fatal Attraction

A FATAL ATTRACTION!

JUDGES 16 (v 4-5,16-20,30)

In this life I have discovered that everything that seems good to you isn’t necessarily good for you…! There are some things in this life that you may find yourself drawn to that are not meant for your good… Even though they may seem enjoyable to you at the time, they may, in the end cause you ultimate destruction…! Furthermore, it does not matter who you are... What your stature is... For no one is exempt from being caught up in compromising predicaments and questionable circumstances...!

As I examine this text, my mind travels back to the late 1980’s and I’m reminded of a movie that had all of America (and probably the rest of the world too) talking… This was a movie that changed the way in which we looked at both relationships and fidelity… This was a film that had married women daring their husbands to even think about being unfaithful… This was a film that had even the toughest, most masculine, manly men scared to even look at another women…!

It dealt with the danger, the act, and the consequences of becoming involved in an extra-marital affair… The movie was called “Fatal Attraction…!” It explored just what can and oftentimes does happen when a man decides to slip and dip and shake his_______ with another woman…! (We all know the story…)

Let me suggest to you beloved, that likewise those of us, who are in the Household of Faith, if we’re not careful, can have the proclivity to end up in our own Spiritual Fatal Attraction…! If we’re not careful, we can end up in the same predicament as the central character of our text… For Samson illustrates to us, a prime example of what can happen when we allow ourselves to be attracted to sin, and the effects this Fatal Attraction can have on our lives…! For James 1:15 emphatically informs us that “when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin... When it is full-grown... Produces death...!” So this lets us know that the attraction to sin is one that is deadly... It is one that is fatal...!

The word fatal is defined as something causing or capable of causing death... Something (or someone) causing ruin or destruction… It comes from the Latin word fatum, which means deadly, destructive…

In other words, something fatal is something that is deadly, disastrous, destructive, and/or lethal to you…! And subsequently, the word attraction is the act or capability of attracting. The power or quality of attracting… Something that attracts you, allures you… It charms you, It fascinates, It appeals, It tempts, It entices, and it calls you…! (Examples: food, clothes, cars, sin...)

One thing that we have to understand is that the devil ain’t no fool… He ain’t no fool when it comes to the flesh… You see; he knows what turns you on…. He knows what makes you tick… He knows how to get your goat…. And he’ll put it right there in your face and say, “Here…! Go on and take it… you know you want it….!” He offers you a Fatal Attraction…! And we’re so gullible, that we’ll let him lead us like a lamb to slaughter… Many times over and over again…!

Remember this wasn’t Samson’s first encounter with a Fatal Attraction, it was only by the Grace of God that he made it through before, but this time it would be fatal…! I said that simply to say this… We’ve got to stop letting the devil play us like suckers whenever he gets ready…. We’ve got to stop falling for the same ole thing...

We’ve got to stop giving in to the same ole desires... We’ve got to stop cheating on God…! We say we love the Lord, and we’re going to keep His commandments, but yet we’re having an affair…! Every time we go against His Word and operate out of His Will, we are having an affair with a Fatal Attraction… And that Fatal Attraction is sin…!

And the bad part about it is that there are some conditions... There are some consequences... There are some situations... That will inevitably manifest themselves as a result of our Fatal Attraction to sin... It will take you…

I. FARTHER THAN YOU WANTED TO GO! (v 4-17)

Now it seems to me, that in view of everything that Samson had been through in his previous relationships, he would have learned to leave well enough alone…!

After experiencing two bad relationships, you think he would have been careful in his dealings with Delilah. But when you have your nose wide open… And you’re attracted, allured, and enticed by something; you’ll do whatever it takes to get it… The text clearly shows us that Samson was willing to go all the way to be with Delilah… He was willing to do whatever it took to have her…