They were an old couple who decided to go to the doctor as they were having more and more problems remembering things. The doctor gives them each a physical and says, "You're in great health for your age. You're just slowing down a bit, that's all. It's nothing serious. If you’re worried about forgetting something, just write it down." The couple, relieved, returns home. That night the wife says, "Honey, would you mind getting' me some ice cream?" The husband smiles and says, "Not at all." The wife says, "Should you write it down?" The husband says, "Don't be silly, the kitchen is right there. I won't forget that fast." The wife says, "Ok, but I also want whipped cream. Think you can remember that?" The husband says, "Whipped cream on top of ice cream. That's easy." The wife then says, "But I'd also like chocolate syrup, chopped nuts, and a cherry on top. That's an awful lot, dear. Maybe you should write it down." The old man, getting a bit annoyed, says, "I've got it! Ice cream with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, chopped nuts, and a cherry on top. I'll be right back." He walks into the kitchen. Minutes pass, and the wife hears clattering sounds coming from the other room. She waits and waits and waits, and finally starts to get up to see what is happening when her husband walks back carrying a plate of hot scrambled eggs. The wife looks at the plate and says, "See, I told you to write it down, you forgot my toast!"
As I get older and forget more and more things, that story is less and less funny. Of course, it wont be long before I forget the story so I don’t guess it really matters. However, when it comes to the life lessons of The Bible, that is something we can ill afford to forget. Concerning the wanderings of the children of Israel, Paul said in 1CO 10:6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. That is why all the unsavory details of the Bible characters are included, so that we thousands of years later, can learn from their mistakes. It has been said, that experience is the best teacher, but it just doesn’t have to be your experience. So this morning I would like deviate from our normal verse by verse study and do a sort of character sketch on one of the most confusing characters in all of Scripture.
In a speech broadcast October 1,1939 Sir Winston Churchill described the Russians as a riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma.". But what he said about Russian actions could also be applied to Samson, the last of the Judges, a man with almost limitless potential who instead squandered his life though failure and compromise.
So I ask you to turn with me in The Old Testament to the book of Judges chapters 13 through 16. It is during this period in Judges that Samson arrives on the scene. Samson is the best known judge of all the judges. He was the last judge written of and we learn more details of Samson’s life than we do any of the other judges. Now some of the Judges in this book are only given one verse in relation to their rule but Samson is given 4 entire chapters so I think it wise that we consider the importance of the lesson God is trying to teach us from Samsons life.
His story is the longest in the book and in some ways the most difficult to understand. Samson is a very odd fellow indeed! If you read much of the Bible, you have probably heard of Samson and know that his story is not one that actually inspires righteous living. His life was characterized by lust, anger, petulance, and revenge. Samson was sort of the Mike Tyson of the ancient world: a very powerful, threatening, out-of-control, and self-centered man. In the life of Samson, the cycle of a compromising, inconsistent life is personified and fully illustrated. We won’t have the time this morning to hit all the highlights, or maybe more appropriately the lowlights, of his life, but I do want to touch on some significant details because I think we can learn many life lessons from his life. I would like us to look at his life in a 3 act play, because in essence Samsons life can be viewed in 3 stages. First we will read of his strength, then we will read of his seduction and finally we will read of his sacrifice and as we survey his life, we will see that Samson is a powerful example of wasted potential. You might sum up Samson’s life as follows: a thrilling supernatural birth, a turbulent self-indulgent life, and finally a tragic premature end. Lets begin by looking at
JDG 13:1 Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, so that the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.
Unfortunately this isnt anything new. Israel keeps sinning and God keeps giving them judges. Now when I use the term Judge, don’t think of a black robed guy with a white wig. The word judge here means someone who judges the problem and then God uses them in some aspect to fix the problem. Note this fact, for it is of critical importance: at this time of their history, there is no crying out to the Lord by the Israelites—no crying out for deliverance during the Philistine oppression. Apparently, the Israelites had adjusted or adapted to their oppressors.
They’ve accepted the oppression as their lot in life and worked at being as comfortable as they could living under such circumstances. Opposition to the Philistines was non-existent and the crusading spirit of the Israelites seemed to be lost. All the Israelites wished to do was avoid the Philistine seemingly content to maintain the status quo.
Samsons life begins almost like a fairy tale. An angel appears to a barren woman and promises her a son. His name was derived from a Hebrew word which means, SUN or BRIGHTNESS. Samson was supposed to be a shining hope to God’s people who were experiencing oppression from their enemies in his time. Certainly he brought light and joy to Manoah and his wife, who thought they would never have a family; and while not bringing complete deliverance. He did begin to bring light to Israel during the dark days of Philistine oppression. The angel then adds one stipulation to the surprised couple. The baby was to be a Nazarite from conception until death. He was to keep the vow from the womb to the tomb.
Numbers chapter6 gives a detailed description of the Nazirite vow. It was generally taken voluntarily for a period of thirty or sixty days by people who had a desire for a deeper, more intimate connection with God. During this time they were to observe some very specific boundaries. They had to stay away from things that were unwise (strong drink), unclean (dead bodies), and unnecessary (the cutting of hair). All of these signs were to be an outward manifestation of an inward consecration to God. The strength of the Nazarite wasn’t in the outward observance but the consecration that they represented.
Samson did not choose to be a Nazirite, but he was given the privilege by God Himself. God gave Samson the privilege of being a Nazirite, the privilege of being totally set apart and dedicated to God. This is wonderful news for us, for God has given us the very same privilege. We are called to be committed, dedicated, and totally set apart to God. You and I have, in a sense, taken a Nazirite vow because we have been set aside, since we were "born again," until we die, set aside for God so that he might pulsate his life through us, fill us with his Spirit and use us for his honor and glory.
So we see Samson in Chapter 13 with everything going for him. Ordained by God, loving parents and a bright future but a foreboding shadow is cast over the next chapter of his life in chapter 14. It simply reads.
JDG 14:1 Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.
He would first betray his Nazarite vows when he went down to Timnah. The word "Timnah" comes from a root word that means "to withhold, keep back, or hinder." It was certainly a step in the wrong direction for Samson. Actually it is stated three times that Samson went down regarding his traveling to Timnath in only seven verses. The report of his going down of course speaks primarily of the geographic location. But this also tells us about the decline in Samson’s spiritual life. In his first public act, he leaves the land of Israel for the land of the Philistines. To put it bluntly, Samson left God’s people and headed south spiritually. Samson was looking in the wrong place for the wrong thing for the wrong reason.
JDG 14:2 So he came back and told his father and mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife."
JDG 14:3 Then his father and his mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?"
Samsons parents try to give some good counsel and advice to their son but early on we see Samsons proclivity to act upon impulse instead of wisdom. I urge you to find some mature Christian you can trust and give them permission to watch your life and give encouragement and admonition when needed. We all could from time to time use some good advice and speaking of which here are a few pieces of good advice I found while preparing for this sermon.
Don't worry about flunking algebra. In real life there's no such thing as algebra. Always buy your parents nice gifts. After all, you dont want to inherit junk. If you're having trouble opening a childproof bottle, just leave it in a room with a child. Don't bother naming your cat. He's not going to come when you call him anyway and finally, When you're depressed, listen to country music. The people in the songs will always be more messed up than you are. But instead of heeding good and Godly counsel, Samson replies with the following,
But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she looks good to me."
Now, not to insult you intelligence but In order to be classified as a temptation, it must be tempting. If you tell me not to lick the floor, that’s not much of a temptation. Here we are given our first glimpse into the chink in Samsons armor. She looks good to me. This is a vivid picture of sin. It looks good to me. This pretty much summarizes Samson's approach to life. It was truly lust at first sight! This suggests something about his captivation with things Philistine generally. Over and over again we find Samson enthralled with Philistine women, Philistine parties, and the Philistine life-style. Most of his life will exemplify the high cost of low living.
JDG 14:4 However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
This doesn’t mean that it was The Lords will for Samson to sin but it speaks of God being sovereign and accomplishing things through us even in spite of us.
JDG 14:5 ¶ Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him.
Samson and his parents went to Timnah to make arrangements and
it appears that Samson left the main road (and apparently his parents) and went on a detour into the vineyards; and there a lion attacked him. A vineyard was a dangerous place for a man who was not supposed to have anything to do with grapes .
JDG 14:6 The Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, so that he tore him as one tears a young goat, you know, just like you would normally tear a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.
This is where we need to stop and do some serious thinking. Most people blow right through this part of the story without realizing the significance of it.
They assume that because Samson is not fighting the Philistines or involved in a sexual escapade, that it's not an important passage. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Indeed, this may well be one of the most important scenes in Samsons life story because it's the one occasion when he was under no pressure whatsoever either from enemies or hormones. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and there wasn't a good-looking woman anywhere around. Yet, he still found a way to sin. In other words, if we don’t walk in The Spirit, we are prone to fall into all types of sin.
JDG 14:7 So he went down and talked to the woman; and she looked good to Samson. This sort of encapsulates his life.
JDG 14:8 When he returned later to take her, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion.
JDG 14:9 So he scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.
Samson ate the honey from the lion's carcass, he was fed by a dead body; and now that part of his Nazirite dedication was destroyed. In addition to the drinking party later in the chapter, 2/3rds of his vow would now have been broken. Also note that he knew his was in disobedience that is why he didn’t tell his parents what he had done. That and maybe the fact that it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell someone that you just retrieved their lunch out of a piece of road kill. The Bible is just chock full of good advice! Anyway, Samson goes to his wedding proposes a cute riddle about said lion and honey and when the men cant figure it out, they threaten Samsons girl who after much weeping and whining, got him to tell her the riddle which she passes on to the other men. Poor Samson, He thought he picked a winner but got a whiner, Then Samsons comes up with what has to be one of the worst lines ever to begin your honey moon with. If you would not have plowed with my heifer you would not have found out my riddle.
Well, This is a marriage off to a fabulous start. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer but even I know you don’t call your wife a heifer unless you like sleeping on couches and eating cocoa puffs.
In a nut shell, chapter 15 has Samson coming back to his bride carrying a young goat. Samson you romantic devil you! Although in his defense, while a goat isnt quite as aromatic as a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates, it would have had considerable value in that culture. He finds out that she has been give to the best man and this infuriates Samson. He captures 300 foxes, and 2 by 2 ties their tails together, attaches a torch and then lights it with fire and sends then through the grain fields. This of course causes a massive manhunt for Samson. Judges 15:11 says that three thousand men went after Samson. "that seems a little bit like swatting a mosquito with a sledgehammer, doesn't it?
You would think that no more than a dozen men would be needed to capture one individual, but Samson's reputation as a warrior had grown to such an extent that normal procedures seemed woefully inadequate. He'd spilled gallons of Philistine blood without receiving so much as a scratch, so they were taking no chances. The men of Judah convince Samson to surrender but when they meet, Samson grabs a donkeys jawbone and uses it to kill a 1000 men. As we began this morning I reminded us of Samsons 3 stages of life, up to this point we have been living primarily in stage 1, Samsons incredible strength. But now in Chapter 16 we will read of what will ultimately be his demise, the seduction of a harlot. Look at Chapter 16 verse 4 with me.
JDG 16:4 ¶ After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Notice with me that this is the first time in all of Samsons like that we read of him actually loving a woman. All the others seemed like a string of one night stands. By the way, that is also how sin is in our lives. It may seem like a string of mistakes but their comes a point to where we begin to love the sin that we at first were shocked by. Listen to the warning that Paul gave to his young protégé Timothy.
1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
That is a sobering passage for me this morning. The one who practices sin becomes enslaved to that sin. Nowhere is this truth more plainly illustrated than in the life of Samson. Its saying that if we consistently and habitually entertain and engage in sinful behavior, that there comes a time when like a callous, we become hard and unfeeling. Does a callous appear overnight? No it takes a certain amount of time doing the same activity to get a callous. So too, in the spiritual realm. If we engage long enough in a sinful behavior we can become callused.
This is why HEB 3:13 says, But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
That’s why we are here this morning. To worship, fellowship and to look into the Scripture to encourage one another in the faith so that we don’t allow ourselves to as J.B. Phillips translates Romans 12:2 to allow the world to squeeze us into its mold. As the old adage says, when you sow a thought, you reap an act; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
Samson’s final romance ends in disaster. “Delilah” means “weakness” or “brought low.” And her name was fitting because. She was Samson’s final weakness who brings him down. The story of how she gets Samson to tell her about his hair is almost laughable if it were not so sad. but Samson was blind a long time before the Philistines put out his eyes.
JDG 16:5 The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, "Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver." That’s about 27 pounds by the way, no small bribe.
Delilah was the first individual with whom Samson created a relationship that made him vulnerable. It says he loved her, and that word is not used of him anywhere else. His life of sexual adventures and short-term relationships had finally weakened his thinking process to the point that he was not only attracted to this woman, but now he had become emotionally enthralled by her.
The problem for Samson was She was as cold-blooded and calculating a person as you could find. She was utterly uninterested in Samson's welfare
JDG 16:6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you."
Did I read that right? How can I afflict you? Well, I normally don’t reveal such things on the first date. Let me speak to the single people for a moment. If you are ever out on a date and if they say something like, I like that shirt it makes your eyes dance, by the way, tell me the best way to tie you up and torture you, find somebody else. Red flags should be going up.
Samson’s strength was found in the anointing of God in his life. We have all these pictures of Samson with bulging muscles. But I don’t think muscles were not the secret of his strength. If it were muscles why would Delilah be asking for the secret; it would have been obvious. It was the anointing that gave him strength. And the anointing was tied to his consecration to God.
So maybe when you picture don’t think Arnold Swarznager but instead think pee wee Herman.
JDG 16:7 Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man."
JDG 16:8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
JDG 16:9 Now she had men lying in wait in an inner room. And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he snapped the cords as a string snaps when it touches fire. So his strength was not discovered.
JDG 16:10 ¶ Then Delilah said to Samson, "Behold, you have deceived me and told me lies; now please tell me how you may be bound."
JDG 16:11 He said to her, "If they bind me tightly with new ropes which have not been used, then I will become weak and be like any other man."
Lets look at that phrase for a moment. I will be like any other man. This is the danger of compromise. That we will become like any other man. That there will be no difference between us and the unsaved, that the Spirit filled life is traded for the passing pleasures of sin, that our lives would have no purpose. Our prayer should be O God don’t let me become like any other man. God never intended for Samson to be like any other man nor does He want us to.
JDG 16:12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" For the men were lying in wait in the inner room. But he snapped the ropes from his arms like a thread.
JDG 16:13 ¶ Then Delilah said to Samson, "Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies; tell me how you may be bound." And he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my hair with the web [and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man." Be careful Samson, you’re getting closer to the truth.
JDG 16:14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them into the web]. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.
Something struck me here and its this. Delilah will take whatever you give her. Whatever information Samson gave her she used to bind him. Now in the place of Delilah insert that sin you struggle with. Is it internet porn? Greed? Gossip? Whatever it is, when we feed our flesh the enemy is all too happy to take those things and bind us. I used this example at home group a few weeks ago. Imagine I have a spool of thread and I ask you to wrap it around my wrist one time and then tie a knot in it. I will then attempt to break that single strand of thread. Would that be a problem for me? I know, you’re probably thinking for someone as buff as you ? NO way! How about 2 strands, eh, a little more difficult but no problem, 5 strands? 10 strands? At a certain point one more wrap of the thread will then be the one that has me in bondage. That’s how sin is. It may not seem like a big deal but the more times we allow it to wrap itself around us, the harder it is to break free and there will come a point when that sin will have us in bondage.
JDG 16:15 ¶ Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is."
Finally, Delilah decided to get serious and play the "You-don't love-me" card. It says here that she pouted and went on a relentless nagging campaign. Samson could kill lions and break ropes, but he couldn't overcome the power of a woman's tears.
You don’t love me you lied to me. If I were Samson I would have said, “It’s a good thing I did, every time I wake up around you I’m tied up with something else.” One writer says, “Samson was playing a game with Delilah which turned out to be Russian Roulette, and he bought the bullet”
JDG 16:16 It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death. All the married people can understand that verse. Except me! HI honey.
JDG 16:17 So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, "A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man."
So imagine with me, Samson Swooning on Delilah’s couch, drunk on the wine, perfume, and soft lights. He’s thinking, She’s putting on something more comfortable. She’s thinking, I know I put those scissors in here somewhere. Someone once said, “stop flirting with sin, or it may kiss you back!”
JDG 16:18 ¶ When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart." Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.
JDG 16:19 She made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him.
The scene that follows is one of the most famous in the Bible. Delilah, perhaps after an evening of heavy partying, managed to lull Samson to sleep with his head in her lap. I can almost see her stroking his magnificent hair, No doubt waiting for his muscles to relax and his breathing to settle into a gentle rhythm before signaling her co-conspirators. Quietly, they slip into the room and make their way to the bed. As she continued stroking his hair and massaging his scalp, they cut away strand after strand until, finally, both his hair and his strength were gone. She lulls him and then torments him. This is exactly how satan works in our lives. First he lulls us into sin ensuring us that its not all that bad, then after the sin is committed he turns up the heat and begins to torment us of our lack of faith and disloyalty to God.
That is why he is called the accuser of the brethren. He is hells prosecuting attorney going before God the righteous judge always condemning and airing our dirty laundry. Samson has became enslaved by his cravings. He strangled a lion but couldn’t strangle his lust. He burst ropes but was bound by his appetite. He burned the enemy’s crops yet was enflamed with desire for their women. He was strong, but not really in control.
JDG 16:20 She said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.
Verse 20 is regarded as among the saddest verses of Scripture: “But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” If that were to happen to us, would we sense any change? His other vows had long been broken. When the last fragment of his commitment to God was stripped from him, his divinely appointed strength was gone. Samson's power was a weapon to fight with and a tool to build with, not a toy to play with.
JDG 16:21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.
Notice now that the bondages that hold Samson are not bondages of green limbs, new ropes, or braided hair. They are bondages of brass.
Brass is a symbol of judgment in a number of places through the Bible.
Bold before men, Samson was weak before women and couldn't resist telling them his secrets. He fought the Lord's battles by day and disobeyed the ' Lord's commandments by night. Even though his name meant 'sunny," he ended up in darkness, blinded by the very enemy he was supposed to conquer but really Samson was blind a long time before the Philistines put out his eyes.
The question cannot help but arise: Was Samson really that stupid? I suggest that Samson knew he was going to get a haircut when he told Delilah his secret. As a Nazarite, Samson was absolutely forbidden to drink wine, touch dead bodies, or cut his hair. Yet Samson had taken of wine at the Philistine parties and nothing happened. He had touched the dead body of a lion in which there was honey, and, again, nothing happened.
Thus, I suggest to you that what Samson was really thinking was, Well, I’ve already drunk wine; I’ve already touched a dead body. Nothing’s going to happen to me if I cut my hair. Samson thought he was an exception—but he wasn’t. And neither are you and neither am I.
JDG 16:22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.
JDG 16:22 Thanks God for the howevers in the Bible. If you write in your bibles. Write the word grace in the margin and then have about 4 arrows pointing back to the word however. Listen to how the dictionary describe the word. nevertheless; yet; in spite of that:
Please allow me to put that in its proper grace perspective. Samson my boy, have you ever blown it! You treated your calling like dirt. You broke every aspect of your Nazarite vow for any short skirt that would walk by and yet, nevertheless, your hair is beginning to grow its true you’re not what you could have been but in spite of that, You are still going to make it into the Hebrews hall of faith. But the hair on his head began to grow again.” I believe his faith grew as well. . I wonder how long Samson walked behind the pole pushing that grind stone around and around and around. I wonder what he thought about there in the darkness of his blindness. Days, weeks, months maybe?
JDG 16:23 ¶ Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands."
You have to give the Philistines credit. With a little ingenuity and a generous helping of female charm, they did what seemed impossible. The captured the ultimate free spirit and public enemy number 1. Unfortunately for them, they turned around and made one of the biggest blunders in the history of mankind. They forgot to keep cutting Samsons hair. This would be like the US capturing Osama Bin Laden and then forgetting to lock the door of his prison cell! I would have posted a full time barber and the second I saw any trace of hair, I would have done a Billy Dunford on him.
JDG 16:24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has given our enemy into our hands, Even the destroyer of our country, Who has slain many of us."
JDG 16:25 It so happened when they were in high spirits, that they said, "Call for Samson, that he may amuse us." So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars.
The end of Samson's life we see him doing hard labor in a Philistine prison. He's 'blind and exhausted, staggering around and bumping into things, falling down and causing hysterical laughter among his captors. I pray that every Person here this morning will close their eyes and let that image sink in. it is perhaps the best picture we have in all of the Bible of the destructive power of sin.
JDG 16:26 Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them."
JDG 16:27 Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about 3, 000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them.
THE B1BL1CAL ACCOUNT OF SAMSON'S LIFE is one spectacular scene on top of another. In fact, there is a sort of crescendo to his story. You can feel it building as you read. You just know that a man who has been involved in so many r-raising escapades is going to go out in a blaze of glory and yet We find Samson listed in Hebrews 11 among those who demonstrated faith. At best, Samson’s faith was meager. The power of faith isn’t in the amount of faith we may have, but the Object of our faith and that should give us hope.
JDG 16:28 ¶ Then Samson called to the Lord and said, "O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes."
JDG 16:29 Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left.
JDG 16:30 And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life.
JDG 16:31 Then his brothers and all his father's household came down, took him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years.
But we need to make this personal this morning. Who is our Delilah? Those people who pull us down. Where is our valley of Sorek, those places we shouldn’t frequent? Let me say this strongly. If we don’t recognize and deal with our fatal flaws, we’ll end up just like Samson blinding, binding, and grinding. Blinding will take place as we lose our moral compass and vision. Binding will result as we lose our freedom and liberty. And we’ll spend the rest of our lives grinding out a purposeless existence. Such promise and yet here we see Samson bound, blind and bald. It says they were in the temple of dagon. We are all in danger of such temples trying to erect themselves in our lives and if that happens we must do what Samson did, we must pray to God for the strength to kill our flesh. Not physically as with Samson but our fleshly nature. Listen to the apostle Paul nail this.
ROM 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
ROM 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
ROM 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
ROM 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
ROM 8:9 ¶ However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
ROM 8:10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
ROM 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
ROM 8:12 ¶ So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh --
ROM 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
ROM 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
So I close by encouraging us if we are playing with sin stop now today this very morning and know that God is the God of the second chance, He is still able to restore the years the locust have eaten and can still place you in His hall of faith.
