WHAT IS YOUR PRICE?
By Pastor Jim May
Judges 16:4-22
Judges 16:4-5, "And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver."
The Valley of Sorek was half a mile from the brook Eshcol, from where the spies had brought a bunch of grapes, as a specimen of the fruit of the land of Canaan; when Moses had first come to the River Jordan. Because it was a valley filled with vineyards, the valley also became famous for the best wine. It was to this place that Samson decided to go every time he needed refreshment or sought for pleasure.
If we are not careful, we will allow the blessings that God provides for us to become a curse in that they will lead us into sin. How can that happen?
Proverbs 20:1, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."
The wine here not only speaks of partaking of fermented, or alcoholic beverages, “adult beverages” as they are called to be politically correct, but it also speaks of anything in life that would become intoxicating to the point that it would have the power to change your way of thinking and your way of acting. I’ve seen people lose their inhibitions in many ways. Some would lose it in their manner of speaking and begin to use profanity if the right circumstances arose. Some would lose their inhibitions in their manner of dress, just to be accepted as a part of the “in” crowd. Some would lose their inhibitions of honesty, quickly succumbing to being a liar or a thief, whether on their income taxes, or lying to get something that they know they shouldn’t have.
The fact is, that many things in life can be intoxicating. The number one culprit in America is money. Money to get the lifestyle, or just a little more of it, has been the downfall of many people who thought, like Samson, that they couldn’t be bought. In fact, it was this very thing, the love of money, that caused Delilah to decide to bring Samson down into bondage.
Be assured that the devil will try to buy your loyalty and he knows your price. He will find a way to give you what you want in exchange for your soul.
What’s your price? How much does the devil have to put in front of you to make you do his will? Is it $100, $500, $1000, or more? Is it a degree behind your name? Is it a house, or a camp by the lake? What’s the price that you will sell out for? What does the devil have to offer you before you decide to forget righteousness, even for a moment, and take hold of what he offers? I’ve seen so many Christians sell out their convictions for little or nothing. I find it disturbing to think of the multitudes that will have to stand before God one day and answer for their lack of loyalty to God and integrity in their walk with the Lord.
Samson sold out for a little pleasure and a little drink. Are we willing to sell for that, or even less?
Jeremiah 9:23-24, "Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD."
And so Samson, the mightiest man that ever walked the earth physically, decided to depend upon his own wits and his own strength. That, my friends, is a recipe for defeat in the making!
Judges 16:6, “And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.”
Nothing in the world can make a man fail quicker than sexual pleasure and a beautiful woman. What God created and ordained for good, Satan has perverted, and man has devalued to the point that it threatens to destroy mankind completely. Samson was caught in this web of passion. In the beginning he could have walked away but he chose not to. Now, the more he stayed involved with Delilah, the more impossible it would be for him to break free. The bondage that he faced was not just going to be green vines, or new ropes, but it was a spiritual bondage and he was already tied up and the sins of the flesh were drawing the ropes ever tighter around his heart, “squeezing out” if you will, the Spirit of God that was in him. God cannot dwell where darkness reigns and Samson’s heart was going ever deeper into the powers of darkness.
One thing that really strikes me is that Samson didn’t go into this temptation blindly. Delilah was honest with him right from the start. She didn’t hide her true intentions. Samson chose to ignore them. He knew exactly what was at stake, and he still decided to play with fire. He thought that he was stronger than anything that could be used against him. He presumed upon the grace and power of God.
I am convinced that every backslider knows exactly what they are doing while they are in the process of backsliding. The Holy Spirit is constantly speaking to them, drawing them to turn around, and yet they continue on. Every time they sin, I know that God speaks to their heart and smites them with guilt feelings, and yet they travel on down the road to death.
From the day that I came to know the Lord as my Savior, there has never been a single time that I fell into any kind of sin that I didn’t know what I was doing. God, the Holy Ghost, was always there, speaking to me, warning me, calling me to repent and turn back to God. Most of the time I would listen, but some times I would be just like Samson, and ignore the voice of God, and go do what I wanted to, thinking that I could beat it.
That’s the way every alcoholic thinks. That’s the way every drug addict thinks. That’s the way every habitual gambler thinks. They all think that they can beat it, even when it’s obvious to rest of the world that they are hooked for good.
What about Delilah? What is her symbolism in this story? Is there more to her than meets the eye? Let me begin by telling you what the name, “Delilah” meant. In one place her name was interpreted to mean, “poor; small; or head of hair”. In another place her name was interpreted to mean, “languishing”.
That should tell you what Delilah represents to you and I. Satan takes the poor, base things of the world and turns them to glamour before our eyes. We see the glitz and glamour on the surface but underneath the façade of beauty, there is sin and death, disease, and loss. Satan takes those things that don’t have any real eternal value in them at, they are “small” things compared to the great things that God has to offer, but because we focus on those small things, they become big to us and hide the truth of their real value. We see them as a “head of hair”. My wife can tell you, as a hairdresser, that nothing can change your appearance like a different hairdo. Satan will make it all look so fine, but under that beauty that lies only skin deep, is an eternal hell and a bondage that is eternally strong. When you get involved to the place that Satan blinds you to the truth of where you really are spiritually, then your soul can only “languish” in despair, while the flesh has a field day. Delilah was Samson’s downfall, and the symbolism in her name is still the downfall of mankind today. The spirit of Delilah is just as alive, just as powerful, just as dangerous today as it was that day in the Valley of Sorek.
Samson was already caught and didn’t know it. He had already lost the battle for his soul. But Satan wasn’t satisfied yet. He wanted to bring Samson down all the way. The sad part is that Samson never really saw it coming. He began to play with Delilah, and to make sport of the Philistines, never realizing that he was getting ever deeper into their trap.
Judges 16:7-8, “And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.”
One major step in Samson’s downfall was something that most people really don’t catch in this story. It was the fact that he began to lie continuously. He couldn’t tell the truth and be friends with the world, so his whole life became a lie.
I’ve seen many Christians follow this path. They begin by playing around with the world, and flirting with sin, but pretty soon they have to begin to lie to maintain their appearance of Christianity. They lie about being caught in sin. Then they lie to make pitiful excuses when their sin becomes evident. Then they lie about just about everything, to the point that they begin to believe and accept their own lies. No matter how we try to disguise our sin; no matter how we try to excuse it; and no matter how much we try to explain it away, sin is still sin and sin brings death. There’s no escaping that fact, no matter how much we try to manipulate things.
The first bondage that Samson played around with was something he knew he could overcome. “Just tie me up with a few green branches off of a tree.” Just offer me a little bit of money. I’ll take it, and then I’ll easily leave it and get back to God. Just offer me a little more of anything. A little bit of anything, taken in moderation, won’t hurt me. I can drink a beer once in a while and it won’t hurt me. I can smoke a cigarette once a month. It won’t kill me. I can do it once and I won’t backslide that fast.
My friends, it has nothing to do with the amount of sin you commit. It has nothing to do with how much you get, how often you go, or anything like that. The real problem is a problem with your heart. It’s just not right with God to begin with or you wouldn’t want to get involved with even the smallest sin. If your heart is right, you won’t yield to the temptation at all. If you have even the slightest desire to get involved in any kind of sin, you’ve already crossed the line and need to repent before you even commit the sin, because it’s already in your heart to do it.
Samson broke free that time, but Satan, and Delilah were not finished yet. The plans for Samson’s demise had been laid and nothing would stop the enemies of his soul from bringing him to destruction and absolute bondage. Let that be a lesson for all of us. Satan isn’t satisfied with you sinning once and then breaking free and coming back to God. He won’t stop until you’ve lost it all for good.
Judges 16:10, “And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.”
Now the temptation becomes a little harder. Samson fell the first time. What do you think will happen this time since he has already become fascinated with Delilah?
Just like Delilah, the worldly crowd, and the voice of Satan, will become even more enticing. The world will begin to draw you even stronger into their ways of sin. Satan will offer you even more if you will only take another sip, or sin just a little bit more. He will begin to tell you that you’ve already failed once and got away with it, why not do it again, and again, and again. No one will ever know. Satan, like Delilah, just keeps drawing you into his web of lies.
Still, even though he knew beyond any doubt now, what Delilah’s real objective was, Samson just knew that he could overcome her tricks and still stay close to God, so he played her game, on her turf, just a little bit more.
Judges 16:11-12, “And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.”
In Samson’s mind, he was making a mockery of Delilah’s trickery, and the Philistine’s plans. But what he didn’t realize was that Satan was really making a fool out of Samson. What could not be bound on the outside by new ropes was already bound on the inside by sin in his heart.
One more time Samson laughed as he walked away a free man. God was still on his side. He was still strong in the Lord. Sure he played around with sin, but he still had the “power”. He still felt the “Spirit” in his life. I wonder if he might have kept saying the words over and again, “greater is He that is in me than these people in the world who are trying to trick me.” He was still counting on past experiences but it had been a long time since he had truly heard the voice of God.
Judges 16:13-14, “And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.”
Take note now that with each passing temptation, and each passing flirtation with Delilah and sin, Samson is getting a little deeper in sin, and ever closer to the point of no return. Child of God, it may look like you are still strong, still winning, still a part of the Body of Christ, but be sure your sin will find you out. And when the day comes that the secret sins in your life have become strong enough, you will no longer hear or feel the Lord in your heart.
This time Samson comes very close to giving it all away. How close will we come to losing our salvation? How far will we go into sin before we turn around?
Judges 16:15-19, “And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.”
Samson went one step too far; just one time too many in playing with sin; just one time too many to the gates of temptation. This time he didn’t come back in victory.
The sad thing is that he was so blinded, so deceived and so in love with the world that he never even realized that God had left him. That’s where nearly all backsliders are today.
Sadly, there are many, even sitting on the pews in the very House of God, who don’t realize that God has left them.
Dead churches, with dead preachers, preaching dead messages, to dead congregations are literally all over the land today. They don’t even know that they have compromised one time too many and that the Spirit of God has left them. When it comes time to shake loose from the bondages of this world and go in the Rapture, they will suddenly realize how low they have sunk and how far from God they have gone. The same holds true for many who are in a backslidden condition right now. Many will be “left behind” while sitting on the pew when Jesus comes again.
Judges 16:21, “But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.”
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.
In Daniel 10:6 Jesus appeared in a vision and Daniel describes Him like this, "His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude."
John also saw Jesus in a vision and this is his description found in Revelation 1:13-15, "And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters."
The tabernacle in the wilderness that we all know is a symbol of Jesus Christ in many, many ways, is described as having brass fixtures and parts all over it. You can read about them all through the Book of Exodus and other.
The brass, as a part of Jesus’ description, symbolizes his pure, holy and righteous judgment.
In Samson’s life, and in the life of all sinners, the brass fetters that hold them in prison, is the judgment of God for the sin in their lives. Samson couldn’t break these fetters because God wasn’t with him there in his sin. Neither will you be able to break free from the sin that binds you once it has you in its prison.
The wonderful thing about this story is that God still had plans for Samson even though he had failed so miserably and wound up bound by sin.
Judges 16:22 gives us a great hope, “Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.”
Even in the prisons of sin, bound by the fetters of brass and God’s judgment for sin, there is still hope, if we will allow the Holy Spirit to draw us back again.
As Samson’s hair began to grow, symbolizing his coming back to the place of his consecration and promises to God, so did the hope of deliverance begin to arise in his heart. Though he could not see with his natural eyes, Samson could see things more clearly now, than he ever could before, and he knew that God was his only hope.
I hope and pray that all of us will never forget that lesson. I hope that we never have to go to the depths that Samson did before we turn back.
If we will just turn back to God, renewing our vows to Him, and repenting of our sin, and allow God to come back and clean out our heart, then we too can see the victory one more time.
