Samson And Sin's Triple-Whammy

SAMSON AND SIN’S TRIPLE-WHAMMY

Judges 16:21 "Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison."

INTRODUCTION: Christians who know that it was sin that nailed their Savior to the cross have no business doing the very things that crucified Him. Like Samson, who believed the lies of Delilah, we can become Satan’s slave when we fall for his lies.

I. Whammy #1 - SIN BLINDS US. "Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes . . ."

A. Satan’s principle weapon against us is his extraordinary cunning.

1. His first ploy against us was deception. (Adam and Eve)

2. He has always, and will always, be the Great Liar.

3. He often appears as "an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11.14)

B. While his power over Christian is limited (1 John 5.18; Rom.6.18 ), he still can cause us to harm ourselves when we are blind to his lies.

1. He roams about seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5.8)

2. We must not be ignorant of Satan’s tricks (2 Cor. 2.11)

3. There is no such thing as an "innocent" sin.

C." For sin ... deceived me." (Rom. 7.11)

II. Whammy #2 - SIN BINDS US. "They bound him with bronze fetters . . ."

A. Once you are blinded to the awful menace of sin it is not long until it begins wrapping its tenacles around you, gradually making you its slave.

1. We choose our masters. Romans 6.16

"Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?"

2. Whom do you obey? Who is your master?

B. But when we become the unspiritual servants of sin, we lose our power over it.

1.. This is most clearly stated in Romans 7.14-24

"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

2. Sin is always at work against us.

III. Whammy #3 - SIN GRINDS US. ". . . and he became a grinder in the prison."

A. Sin ends in death and in the process grinds us.

1. This is most clearly typified in the demoniac of Gadara in Mark 5.1-9, whose sins had brought him under the grinding heel of the Evil One.

"This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones."

2. This is a sobering picture of what sin can bring us to.

B. Sin, like John, who took the book from the angel in Revelation 10.9-10 and ate it. It was sweet in the beginning but became bitter afterward.

1. Sin is like that.

2. Isaiah 5.20 "Woe unto them . . . that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"

CONCLUSION:J. G. Morrison, for many years the general superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, used to tell the following story to show how there is only one way to free yourself from hard servitude to Satan: