Judges 16 Bible Study (Samson and Delilah/The Death of Samson) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Welcome to Friday night bible study. If you have your bibles, meet me in the book of Judges chapter 16. If you're joining us for the first time tonight, we are studying the Old Testament from the beginning to the end. And at this point in our lives, we're at this book and we're studying about a man named Samson. You've probably heard of his name.

If not, you're gonna be familiar with him tonight. Even though we are the concluding chapter of his life, there's still so much to learn. It's a it's a long chapter. And I'm gonna encourage you, if you have your Bibles, which you should at Bible study, you're gonna have your finger here at this portion of your Bible, and you're also gonna have a finger in the book of Proverbs. Because so much of what Samson is displaying here is actually, given insight in the book of Proverbs.

And so we kinda see what Proverbs talks about in in a particular subject fleshed out in the life of Samson. And so as we prepare to to read here, let's ask God to help us once again. Lord, you are the author of this book. Lord, we know that men were carried along by the Holy Spirit to pen these words. They were your vessels, but you are the mind and the heart behind every text.

We ask, Lord, that we would hear your voice. That we would not tamper with your word. We would not try to make it fit with our culture or our, presuppositions, Lord. It would just be the pure word today. And every time we gather, Lord, let it just be the pure word of God.

And we ask, Lord, that your booming voice, as it as it says in the Psalms, would break the cedars of Lebanon. It would give birth to things. It would shake things in our lives. This is what we need from you in this day and hour. Many voices are being declared and heralded.

We need your voice to mute all other voices in our lives. It may be done, it may be so. By faith, we believe that you will speak. In Jesus name, amen and amen. If you're with us last week, at the last few verses of chapter 15 of this book, you probably would have hoped that that's where Samson's life would have ended.

That's where his story would have concluded. Because he ends in a humble light, he ends in a redemptive way, And perhaps we would have hoped that though he started off wrong, he ended he ended right. But unfortunately, any inspiration that we experience from last week will be quickly swallowed up by disappointment. And that is because Samson's life doesn't end where we left off. It only continues and any light that there was in his life last week will be eclipsed by his true character.

And we're going to see a disappointing end to this man's life. And we're trying to glean hope from it, but I'm gonna say this at the end, but I'll say it right now from the beginning, that I believe the Holy Spirit in is intent behind giving us this story is not so that we can feel good, necessarily. Judges is a sad book. Samson is a tragic character. If you've been with us since we started Judges, you probably felt a little heavy every time you've left this place, and that's okay.

We need a little bit of heaviness in this meme culture. We need a little bit of sobriety. So we're not going to try to make this feel good. We're gonna just read it as it is. Yes, we're gonna draw whatever we need to draw out of it, but we're just gonna take what God has to say in his wisdom and believe that it's good for us.

So what do we read here in verse one of chapter 16? This is how we're introduced to this chapter. The chapters are not inspired by the Holy Spirit by the way. That was man's invention, but very helpful. But we read, Samson went to Gaza and there he saw a prostitute and he went into her.

That's your first verse for Friday night Bible study. But we can't read this disconnected from what we had just studied last week. And what did we study last week? That Samson slew a thousand men with a jawbone of a donkey. Samson saw some kind of need in his humanity to cry out to God.

His first time praying, at least recorded prayer, where he was broken and in complete awareness of his need for God. Samson experienced a miraculous provision of water. He experienced some kind of connection with God and we are told even that he was a judge in Israel for twenty years. All these wonderful achievements, all these wonderful things that we see. And after all that, we see that the first thing that he does is sleep with a prostitute.

Times of victory, even spiritually, especially spiritually are dangerous times. And we see that clearly with this man. And what does that tell us? That accolades and achievements, even in the realm of God's kingdom, are not the signs of the true character of a person. It doesn't matter what you accomplish.

It doesn't matter how grand you are in the eyes of men. Who you are from the day to day is who you really are. And that's why sometimes we can see and be troubled by the news of a grand preacher that has won the hearts of thousands of people, or we can see some leaders of movements that have done much, and then we realize they live a double life and we think, how can this be? Listen. The Bible has told us about many, many, including Samson, and and given us a warning that this is a pattern in many people's lives.

Don't be shocked. So let me tell you this. Yeah. You can have a guy like Samson who sees a personal revival, who sees even a great stride in advancing his purposes for God, and sleep with a prostitute the next day. So let me shock you tonight, that it's possible for a person to get up and preach a wonderful message and and so eloquent and so moving and bring you to tears.

And on that same night, go sleep with a church member in that hotel. It's possible. It's possible for a worship leader to come with all that talent and poetic ability, a writer of songs and be a closet alcoholic. It's possible for leaders of denominations in schools, Christian schools to be greedy and deceivers with finances. It's possible.

But let me tell you what what's not possible, that a person can live in such a way without God intervening eventually. That's not possible. That's what we're gonna learn about Samson's life. This track record of being induced with the power of God and then living how he wants is not going to last. But notice also, in comparison with Samson's beginnings, that he is going from bad to worse.

So how are we introduced to him in Judges? We're introduced to him in Judges chapter 14 where he wants to marry a Philistine woman. You can't do that according to Levitical law. And in our faith, we are called to marry those within the faith, so it's not so foreign. But what happens?

Samson wants to marry a Philistine. Well, at least he wanted to marry her. Now what is he doing? He's he's completely neglecting the idea of a covenant totally and he's sleeping with a prostitute. He's not even considering the fact that there is this gift called sex that's supposed to be expressed when a man and a woman say, I do.

He's just going for it because his flesh desires it. He's not even taking the steps necessary to do it the way God intended him to do it. Whatever he sees he wants. No covenant in sight. And additionally, it's not just here that he's going from bad to worse in terms of immorality, he's going from bad to worse in his discernment.

Look at verse one. Samson went to Gaza. You know what Gaza is in this time? Enemy territory. This guy is just waltzing into the enemy's camp, making himself vulnerable, just so that he can satisfy his flesh.

He's not considering that this is dangerous. He's not considering that this is something that might harm him or put him in harms. He doesn't care. This was premeditated. He went to Gaza to find a girl and he got it.

Why? What is happening with Samson? Well, let me put it this way. Just like what alcohol does to the body is what lust does to the soul. Both alcohol and lust, the similarity there is that when they are indulged, they intoxicate a man, and they influence a man to the point where they're not acting reasonably.

In fact, the scriptures ties in and makes a relationship between intoxication and sexual immorality. Being drunk with lust. And as Christians, you know what we hear? We hear, yeah, it's obvious that a drunk person makes foolish decisions, but we don't think that a person who does not have self control in the area of their sexual life makes foolish decisions either. They do.

Equally foolish. Even sometimes more foolish. So remember, you have your finger in the book of Proverbs. Right? Let's just see what I'm trying to say here in light of scripture.

Proverbs five verse 20 in the ESV. Look what the Bible says in Proverbs five verse 20. Why should you be intoxicated? Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? Look at that language.

Why are you going to be intoxicated by the love of a forbidden woman? Why will you allow yourself to be drunk in lust? Proverbs six thirty two. He who commits adultery lacks sense. He who commits adultery lacks sense.

He who does it destroys himself. What happens when a person gets drunk? Do they have much sense in their behavior, in their conversation, in their decisions? No. And there's so many other places in Proverbs, but let me let me show you here that one of the strongest proofs that what I'm saying is true.

And it's not in Proverbs, but listen, if you want to turn there, write it down, it's an important verse. Hosea four eleven. Whoredom, wine, and new wine. Whoredom, wine, and new wine. What do they do?

Which take away the understanding. Two things that the prophet says takes away a man's ability to reason and make rational decisions. Whoredom, a promiscuous lifestyle, essential lifestyle, and wine. People wonder how did Solomon, who was given so much wisdom, crash headlong, headfirst the way he did? And I argue that Hosea four eleven gives a commentary, whoredom.

Whoredom made him lose his ability to make rational decisions. He got drunk. He got drunk in lust. Samson's drunk. He's drunk.

So he's parking his car in Gaza. He's walking in the streets. He's literally behind enemy lines and he doesn't care. Why? Because he wants his flesh to be satisfied.

And the Bible parallels these two experiences for a reason. Because just like alcohol, intoxicating a man is a dangerous thing for that man and those around him. A person who is given over to sexual sin is just as dangerous. Would you trust a drunken man to drive your car? Would you trust a drunken man to operate machinery?

Would you would you trust a drunken man to babysit your children? A person who can't control his lust in this area is capable of doing damage to himself, to his family, to his marriage, to his finances, to his ministry, and even as a Christian, to the testimony of Christ that he is supposed to bear witness to. It's dangerous. You hear of these people who have millions of dollars and because they have no control over their lust, they are bankrupt. You don't think it's a dangerous thing, then why are there rehab centers for those who are in this mess?

For sexual rehab. Why? Even the world understands that when a person is addicted to this sin, it can get very hazardous for that person and those around him. They don't see their lust as a dangerous thing though. Right?

And Christians don't. I mean if a Christian, a professing Christian somehow slips into drugs or alcohol, they would be much more quicker to get sober, but for some reason when it comes to less bombarding their hearts and determining their decisions, we think, well this is just me, I'm a guy, I'm wired this way. And we don't think it's dangerous to ourselves, we don't think it's dangerous to those around us. We don't take the precautions nor the measures to see sobriety in our sexuality. The Bible has a different understanding behind it.

And just like Samson, unchecked lusts can increase a tolerance level and can cause a man to go from making small wrong decisions to completely reckless behavior and not even feel the transition from one to the other. Samson went from I'll marry a Philistine woman to I'll go to the enemy's camp and sleep with a prostitute. That's why the famous slogan proves true that if you don't kill your sin, your sin will do what? It will kill you. In this case, Samson's passion has led him to be surrounded by enemies.

Right? Look at verse two. The Gazites were told, Samson has come here. Even the Gazites were like, are you serious? He's here.

What is he doing here? And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night saying, let us wait till the light of the morning then we will kill him. They they realize Samson's in town for a weekend to fulfill some kind of fantasy. He's a dead man.

Call all the troops, we'll surround the house. The moment he wakes up and tries to get back to his homeland, we'll ambush him. We'll ambush him. What do we see instead? Look at verse three.

But Samson lay till midnight. And at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them on the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron. Surprise, surprise, Philistines. You got all these soldiers around, maybe some dozing off thinking that Samson is gonna wake up in the morning and shocking to them, he wakes up in the middle of the night, puts on his robe, whatever he was wearing, kicks that door open, perhaps most of these people are sleeping, and he totally ignores them. He just walks towards the gate and he grabs a hold of something, pulls the gates up from its post, and puts it on his shoulders like a small child and walks miles upon miles to plant that door on the top of the hill to make a statement.

And he did make a statement. This is bible study. Here's my question. What does the gate represent according to the Old Testament? He could have ripped he could have ripped their heads off from their bodies.

No. He went to the gate and ripped the gate up from its roots. Why? What do we know about gates in the bible? What does a gate do?

Protects a city, but it's not just for protection. What do we know about a gate? What happens at the gate of a city? We should know this if we are students of the old testament. What happens?

What takes place at a gate? The leaders sit there, the elders sit there and there's legal matters that are dealt with. There's business transactions that are taking place there. A gate, according to the bible in the old testament, symbolizes power and security for a city. And that's why when Abraham was given that prophetic word from the Lord, he was told in Genesis 22, may your offspring possess the gates of his enemies.

So for Samson to go to the gate of the city and to rip it up is to make a statement. You have nothing on me. I overpower you. You have nothing against me. I'm a one man army and I'm just gonna take this very thing that symbolizes your strength.

I'm gonna take it up from its roots, put it on my shoulders and show you who's boss here. Now, pause on the practical study for a moment. Do you get a prophetic ring there of what Samson's doing? It's what Jesus did at his resurrection. It's what Jesus did at his resurrection.

And in the positive light, when Jesus was ambushed by his physical enemies and by his spiritual enemies, thinking that he was trapped in that tomb, surprising to them, he awoke, smashed through that tomb, so to speak, took up the gates of death and the keys that open that door and holds them still to this day. So this is a beautiful picture of the ultimate deliverer that would conquer not the gates of physical armies or, you know, foreign foes, no, but of our ultimate enemy, sin and death. And just like papier mache, ripping it up like it's nothing, that's what he did in the grave. That's what he did to the grave. And that's why in Revelation he says, I hold the the keys to death and Hades.

I have power and authority now over death itself. Prophetically powerful. Practically terrifying. Terrifying. This is terrifying.

This is not inspiring. This is now getting really scary. Why? Because a man just slept with a prostitute and on the same night was able to do this. The man slept with the prostitute, threw some money at her, and by God's strength, was able to take one of the most instrumental and important pieces of the structure of that modern society.

Think about it. God enabled him to do that. God gave him the power to do that. The same night that he was with a harlot. How do we explain that?

Here's how you explain it. Sheer mercy. Sheer mercy. And the mercy that tends to and usually does melt the hearts of sinners will, in fact, do the opposite in Samson and harden his heart and the way he interprets God and how he deals with sin in our lives. See God's grace can melt your heart or harden your heart.

And in Samson's case, it's only gonna make things worse for him. Not because God's grace is bad, but because of the way we interpret it. The way we interpret and receive it. And so Samson here moves on from this place and we think, you just experienced the sensation of one of the most supernatural things one man can do on his own, connected to God. Samson, are you like gonna are you gonna realize that that was a very bad thing that you did and it was a very scary and dangerous situation as a deliverer?

You're the judge of Israel and you're going to the enemy territory to sleep. Are are you done here? Let's read verse four. After this after this after this, he loved a woman in the Valley Of Sorek whose name was Delilah. This guy is just not getting it.

And so we're seeing that not only is he making bad decisions, but the rate of his decisions are getting very scary as well. It's just like he's hopping from one person to the other, and that's exactly what's happening here. And what's amazing is the Valley Of Sorek means the valley of choice vines. What is Nazareth? What is a Nazareth again?

What is he not supposed to do? Touch grapes, drink grapes, eat any of the fruit of the vine? And so from the beginning, we saw that he went to the Valleys Of Timnah, which were vines and vineyards, and now he's going to, what we see here, an entire valley. Not just a vineyard rather in the beginning, but an entire valley of vineyards. Like, he's just getting more reckless here.

He's getting more careless here. And the Holy Spirit is pointing that out for a reason. And before with the prostitute, I mean, he's just satisfying his flesh. He wants nothing. Now he's his affections are getting tied up with this woman.

Now he's falling in love. Is that worse or better? Does it justify what he's about to do? Oh, no. It makes it worse.

Now your heart is in it. It's not just animalistic behavior. Now you have some kind of endearment. Now there's some infatuation. Doesn't make it any better.

It's actually gonna make it much worse for Samson. So he meets this gal named Delilah. And verse five we read, and the lords of the Philistines, now you have the leaders of the Philistines, not just platoons and and just different sections of an army. No. You have the lords of the Philistines, came up to her and said to her, seduce him.

Seduce him and see where his great strength lies. And by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him, and we will each give you 1,100. Name some things that the enemy has done to Samson up to this point since we studied him. They bound him before. Right?

They had his own people arrest him with fresh new ropes. What else did the enemy do? Kill his wife. Kill his wife in the beginning of the story and his in laws. Before this we just read that they ambushed him.

Nothing worked. Nothing worked. Murdered your family members, had your own people cough you up and surrender you, try to ambush you just a few days earlier, nothing is working. And now the enemy has a fresh strategy, seduction. Seduction.

Delilah, what you can do, a thousand men can't do. Seduce him. I wanna give you insight. The enemy's strategy hasn't changed. Hasn't.

Your finger's still in Proverbs. Right? Go to Proverbs chapter seven verse 26. I'm gonna read it from the King James version. This is speaking about the adulterous woman.

And it says, for she hath cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men have been slain by her, and all her slain are a mighty throng. You realize what the Holy Spirit is saying here? That a promiscuous woman has done more damage than almost anything else. To who? What kind of men?

Silly men? Teenagers? No. Mighty men. And mighty there is not talking about physical strength primarily.

Talking about men of influence. Talking about pioneers. We're talking about men of courage, spiritual giants, different leaders in different fields, conquerors of nations, you name it. Not few of them. Many of them.

Many of them. And then you read this and you think, so it's a strategy of the enemy. It was a strategy in this story and it's still a strategy tragedy and strategy today. And it will be till the end of time. It will be.

Bible says, many mighty men have been slain by her. You know what my question is when I read that proverb? How? How? How do you have men like David, Solomon, Samson?

How do you have men like in modern day ministries that have international influence, who have touched the lives of thousands of people who travel the world? How do they crash and burn from a random lady or multiple woman from different parts of the world? How? Well, the same book that tells us that many men have and will fall by her also tells you and cautions us how we can avoid it. I thank God for that.

That's not a definite commentary for every person that will be great for the kingdom of God. And so the same book tells us in Proverbs chapter two, look at verse 16. So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words. You can be delivered, men, women as well. Oh, you might not have a mighty ministry, but you might be working and somebody's hitting on you and you're a married woman.

You're a young, attractive, single Christian woman and here is a married man trying to get your attention and flirt with you. And you're starting to feel like your affections are are fluttering now and you're starting to get excited to go to work and not so that you can be a witness, so that you can you can get attention from a man. You start putting on perfume because you want him to notice and you start dressing a different way. I wanna rescue you by the word of God tonight. I wanna rescue you.

God wants to rescue you by the word of God. You can be delivered from that. You can be saved from that. You don't have to be another statistic in modern weak Christianity. You can be saved from that.

Minister and layman alike. Question is, if it's possible to be delivered, then why have so many mighty men have fallen for the trap? Do you see that word there? So you will be delivered. So implies that this is the consequence, this is the result of something that was previously mentioned.

So that is the equals mark to an equation that was made up before this. So that So what happens earlier, so that this can be the outcome and be my safety and be my portion. Scroll back to the same chapter in verse five. Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. And then he goes on to describe the beautiful results of a person who fears God and understands him.

Many reasons why many mighty men have fallen. I'll give you the foundational reason. They don't fear God. They don't know God. Because the Bible tells me here that I will be delivered from the place of understanding the fear of the Lord and finding something about God, the knowledge of who he really is.

Samson didn't fear God. It's obvious. You don't have to see a verse that says, and Samson did not fear the Lord. He's living it. And you have the bible that tells us what the fear of the Lord looks like and what the lack of the fear of the Lord looks like, and you say it's Samson who lacks it.

And he certainly lacked it because of his his interaction with Delilah and the prostitute and all the others in the first place. But I'll show you where else he lacked it. Are you ready? It's shown in the fact that he did not even have the ability to discern the trap that Delilah was setting for him. Samson comes out as a pretty smart guy.

Like, he comes up with poems and riddles, like, you're not just muscle, you have you have a brain. But when you come to this point, he is so drunk with lust, he can't even discern the obvious trap that Delilah is setting for his life. Between verse six to verse 13, Delilah three times asked him the secret of his strength. Samson gives three false answers, but amazingly, when he gives the false answers, she uses that answer against them every single time. So he's like, you know, Delilah, I thought you would ask me where I got my strength from.

If you tie seven fresh bowstrings around me, then I will lose my strength and become as a weak man. She's like, well thank you, honey. That's wonderful. Let's go to bed. They go to bed and he wakes up in that same house with only her in it, with him being bound by seven fresh bowstrings.

It happens again. It happens again. You would think it would dawn on you something's off here. Do you realize that that lack of discernment is a result of lacking the fear of God? Go back to Proverbs two.

Remember, verse five says, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. But look at Proverbs two verse 10. Because what is the beginning of wisdom, brothers and sisters? It's the fear of the Lord. Right?

So then you come to verse 10, it says, for wisdom. Wisdom is connected to the fear of Lord. You cannot separate wisdom from fearing God. For wisdom will come into your heart. As a result of what?

Verse five, you will you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God, and then wisdom will come into your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you. And maybe you've read an article, or you've heard of a man of God from a from a grand ministry that has fallen, and you've asked yourself, especially when they give the details of how it came about. How did this man, how did this woman think they were gonna get away with this? Have you ever thought that?

I thought it almost, if not every single time. Even not in big scandals. I'm talking about real life, day to day that's not on big news. How did you think you were gonna get away with it? How?

And how did you make such decisions thinking that it was not gonna come to light? Like you have people that are not even trying to hide it. And in this day, it's becoming way more difficult to be secretive when everything is on your phone and there's secret cameras everywhere and Siri can hear everything you say. I'll tell you why. Because they don't have the fear of God.

They do not have the key that unlocks the door for a discernment and the ability to understand and make rational decisions. And if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then lack of the fear of the Lord is the beginning of foolishness. And all you have to do is spend a little time in the book of Proverbs to see what a fool does with his decisions and his thinking. And it doesn't matter how smart they are, it doesn't matter how impressive they are, it doesn't matter how untouchable they may seem, you'll be shocked to know what can happen to a man who is lacking this fear. And let me tell you what happens when you do get this fear.

When you have this right attitude toward God, he will reward you by putting wisdom in your heart. And you know what happens to a person who really has this fear? It's like God gives them x-ray vision for the soul. They can spot a threat a mile away. They they don't get so easily caught up by the words of somebody even when they seem so flattering and so innocent, God gives a discernment to a God fearing person and they can smell it even though they can't completely understand it right away.

Let me put it this way and I hope it sounds right. It's very difficult to mess with somebody who fears God. Because God puts so much in them as a reward for seeing him in the way he wants to be sought. And a person who fears the Lord is able to be 10 steps ahead of the enemy. 10 steps ahead of those who are the instruments of Satan.

And they know how to even avoid the traps and not even enter into the first place. It's incredible what the fear of God does and it's incredible what the lack of fear of God does to a man. It puts him in a stupor. It leaves him to the influences of the flesh and things get crazy when that happens. Samson can't even discern that this is a trap because he loved his sin and the fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil.

You can see how this is just a big web. Is it not? And that's why the scripture says the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. That's why the scripture says when you fear God, you have security for the rest of your days. Not just because you fear God, but because of what he gives you when you fear him.

He gives you his presence. He gives you his discernment. He gives you his wisdom. He gives you his voice in a very special manner in which you can avoid landmines and Delilah's in this life. Samson missed it.

And notice with me now, let's come to these scriptures. Notice the progression of Samson's answers to Delilah's request. Look at verse seven. This is the first time after Delilah asked. Samson said to her, if they bind me with seven fresh bow strings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.

Look at verse 11, and he said to her, if they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man. And now when you come to the final time in verse 13, we read, then Delilah said to Samson, until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound. And he said to her, if you weave the seven locks of my head and the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I should become weak and be like any other man. What's happening here, especially with the last answer?

What do you notice? Say it again. Getting closer to the real answer. Getting closer to the real answer. What's the real answer?

His hair. You know what is happening to Samson? He's getting a thrill out of this. This is like a game to him. And now he's he's giving closer insights to what the actual answer is because it has to do with his hair and Samson is clearly entertained by this whole exchange with Delilah.

Sin is becoming a sport. And the sport is, that many people are playing and they're wearing the jersey and they don't even realize it, the sport is how close can I come to the line? How close can I get to the line before this is actually sin? How close can I come to the line before I actually betray my Lord? How close do I come to the line before I actually grieve the Holy Spirit?

How close can I get to the world and still be known in the realm of the kingdom? How close? This is the game that Samson is playing. But I guarantee you that no matter how much you think you can come to that line and control yourself, you'll always go out of bounds. Always.

Always always always always. And so Samson really thinks he's in control here. Samson really thinks he can determine and he can dictate this whole thing, when he doesn't realize that he's actually being deceived by his own strategy. He's being deceived by his own strategy. And so what happens?

He's getting a kick out of it, but there's somebody in the story that's not. She doesn't find it cute. She doesn't find it charming. She's getting annoyed. Because all she's seeing is her opportunity for riches fading away.

And so she turns up the heat a little bit and she says, okay, this is what I'm gonna do. Samson keeps coming over and we read that. He came on frequent visits. So she said, I'm going to annoy him and I'm going to pressure him and I'm not gonna give him what he wants until he gives me what I want. That's exactly what's happening here.

So what's happening to Samson is that Samson is coming over and over and over, and he's realizing this isn't getting fun anymore. This is actually becoming a burden. She's actually becoming annoying. This is all fun and romantic and exotic and now this is getting really, really tiresome. So he has to make a choice.

And this is the choice that he has to make. Am I gonna am I gonna go through with this and give up the assignment that God has called me to so that I can prolong this fantasy that I'm so enjoying. We don't know if Samson was thinking this. We don't know if he understood that him giving the answer would be the obvious cost of his commission from God being canceled. We don't know.

But it could be. And whether he knew it or not, it was still true and it was still real. And there are some people in this day, I know this might sound shocking brothers and sisters, but it's true. There are some people in this day who so live in a pattern of a double life and they so fall in love with that other life that they, in their conscience, are fully aware that this is gonna cost me my ministry. This is gonna cost me my marriage, this is gonna cost my trust with my children, but it's worth it.

But it's worth it. And they make that decision. And I'm sorry to be extra burdensome on you, but I I I need you to understand the reality of this because you might see this. You have seen it already. You're gonna see it more.

You have crazy people, pastors leaving their families and running off with somebody else in the church. These things happen and they don't make the news all the time. But I have a hunch that Samson didn't really believe that he would lose it. I have a hunch that Samson believed that he could give the answer and he could still keep everything. And people believe that today too.

How do we know that? Well, let's come here and read in verse 17. And he told her all his heart and said to her, a razor has never come upon my head, Delilah, for I have been a Nazarite to God from the mother's womb, my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man. And Delilah heard this answer, and it wasn't like the other answers.

There was something true about it. There is a ring to it and she's like, I got him. I got him. When Delilah, verse 18, saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines saying, come up again. This isn't gonna be a a fluke.

Come up again, for he has told me all his heart. And lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought her the money in her hands. And look at this, verse 19, she made him sleep on her knees. Now, if I believed that I would lose my power, and three times prior to this, Delilah's cry was, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. If I gave the real answer, and there's perhaps a high percentage chance that she's gonna cry again, the Philly scenes are upon you, I'm not gonna sleep on your knees and take a nap on your lap.

That is not a posture of somebody who is aware that danger is coming and that something dangerous will happen to you. That is a posture of trust, of being relaxed and being convinced that even if the Philistines do come, I'll just wake up from her lap and I will destroy them. If we're not convinced by that, let's see what happens in verse 20. And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times.

Do you see what he said to himself? I will go out as other times. What did he say to himself? I will do what happened the first three times again. So what does that say?

That he really believed, even after giving the true answer, that he can escape this danger. He really believed. He really believed that after he gave up the answer, and if it even happened to him where she cut off his hair, nothing would change. Nothing would change. I went to the vineyards earlier.

I got drunk at my wedding. I did this, I did that. The spirit of God came upon me every single time. Why would this time be any different? I slept with a prostitute and I tore up the gates of the city.

Why would it be any different? I've seen God bless me to bless others. Why would he stop blessing me to bless others now? Samson misinterpreted God's mercy over his sin as God's acceptance for his sin. And this happens especially, you know how it happens, when men take their circumstances as a cue to whether or not God is pleased with them instead of taking the matter to the word of God and seeing if God is really pleased with them.

And so they see people are still moved by my sermons. I mean, I was with somebody who was not my wife just last week and people are still crying when I preach. And the money is still coming in. And the church is flourishing and growing. Nothing's gonna change.

I can hold on to this. I can hold on to this. My wife doesn't know. My kids don't know. She's happy.

They're happy. I can go on like this. And there's a line. It's invisible. Because if it was visible, and the Bible said, if you sin nine times on the tenth time, that's when I turn my face away.

Okay. Nine times it is, God. Here you go. I'm back. No.

No. No. No. No. It's invisible and you think that's funny, but let me tell you, we're so wicked we're willing to do it.

We're so wicked and god in his wisdom doesn't give us a number. He makes an invisible line. Why? Because he wants it to be relational. You don't think like that with other people.

I'm gonna cheat on them five times. And on the sixth time, it'll be okay. You don't do it once. Why? Because you love them.

Why do we do any different with God? There's this invisible line and there's a law that God had established. And it's what Samson failed to see and what many people fail to see today. That if you ever question, if you ever question that I can continue with this and God will still be No. No.

No. You cannot have a spirit empowered effective ministry and forfeit consecration at the same time. You can't. That hair, it wasn't about the hair. It was about what the hair symbolized and consecration is what it symbolized.

Holiness unto God. You walk to a different step. You abide by a different law. You do not live according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. That is what it's and that's what Satan attacks.

That's what Delilah calls you and gives you over to when you are seduced by her. Sleep on my lap. Be comfortable here and let me cut your hair off. Because Satan knows what many Christians don't know. If you don't have consecration, you don't have power.

If you don't have consecration, you don't have power. If you don't believe that, go to second Timothy two twenty one and twenty two. You don't have to turn there, read it later. That we cleanse ourselves from what is dishonorable, so that we may be vessels for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. God is looking for consecrated vessels.

Perfect? No. Set apart. Set apart. Determined in your heart that you will not entertain it by God's grace, that you'll stay as pure as possible.

God says, that's something and that's someone I can use. And even with a person who doesn't believe that God is so patient and merciful as he was with Samson, but he crossed the line and he really believed I can get away with this. And so Samson loses it. This is one of the saddest sights ever. Verse 19, she made him sleep on her knees and she called the man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head, and she began to torment him.

You know, you can love something that torments you. It's amazing what we love in this life. She began to torment him and his strength left him. I know this isn't a deep question, but I wondered, what did that feel like to be so depleted? I know what it's like to be physically weak, but what did what did Samson have that left him?

And he felt it? Well, read here. And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he woke from his sleep and said, I will go out as other times and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

He did not know that the Lord had left him. He was such a low in a low spiritual condition that he could not even tell whether God was with him or not with him. Think about that. You know what I'm scared about modern ministry in America? That the Holy Spirit had withdrew his presence from many of the places that supposedly serve the Lord Jesus.

That ministries would operate just as they did before he withdrew himself with no problems. We've learned to do ministry without the Holy Spirit. We've learned to do church without the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. We know how to make we know how to do fundraising and get money. We know how to go through church services.

People are happy with with just going we're we can do it. And I wonder if the Holy Spirit says, I'm gonna just check myself out. If churches would notice and get on their face before God and say, Lord, we can't do this without you. I'm sure if the Holy Spirit says I'm not gonna be in this church anymore, I'm not gonna be a part of this ministry, they would even notice. May God protect us from such a possibility.

And it gets sadder than this, if it can. Verse 21, the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. See, if Samson would have done that spiritually, he wouldn't have been in this mess. If Samson would have done this in the soul, as Jesus said, that if your right eye caused you to sin, pluck it out. He wouldn't have his physical eyes plucked out.

You know what's amazing? He loses his eyes, he's brought down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. Here's a lesson. I'm sure Samson thought of the possibility that if he gave up the secret to his strength he would have lost his hair, but I'm sure Samson did not think in that moment, if he did even have that thought, that he would lose his eyes. You always lose more than you anticipated when you do sin.

You you never think that it can go worse than And in temptation, you don't even think about the worst case scenario. You think about the best case scenario. That if I do this, this is this is the best thing that can come out of it, even if it has some sting and some shame. You never think about how bad it can actually get. And usually, when people do deceive themselves in that, it always becomes worse than they anticipated.

Samson lost way more than just his hair and God's power. He lost his physical eyes. They gouged out his eyes. Oh, Samson, if you would have done that from the beginning, your story would have had a different end. The very problem of Samson's stories was his eyes.

And he ends up losing them anyway. The very thing that brings you so much pleasure will end up being taken from you anyway. That's why Jesus, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul? You can't keep the very thing that you are contemplating whether it's worth giving up for Jesus. It's a very simple thing, but we are so foolish to believe that we can keep it.

Samson loses his eyes and then, I mean just picture it with me. Would you picture it? Do you think they gracefully plucked out his eyes? Samson, we're just gonna put you under and we're gonna take these eyes out and we're gonna put some Samson was taken and probably while he was even in that moment, they didn't even hesitate. Took a dagger to his sockets and popped out one eye as he screamed in pain.

And didn't even wait until they went to the other eye and plucked it out. And probably even did something with the eyeballs and they tormented the man. No eyes. And they kick him down a dungeon in the gloomy darkness, and he's there grinding at the mill with dry blood on his cheekbones. Black sockets, agonizing in pain.

And you think, is there anything more disgraceful and heartbreaking than this? This is Israel's judge. This is the man that's been commissioned by heaven from his womb, his mother's womb. And this is how we see him. And all for a sudden in verse 22, we get the word but.

But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. Says Samson, day by day, night after night, exhausted, chains at his feet and his hands, feeling the cold breeze brush over those empty eyes. Hair is beginning to grow. Think, Holy Spirit, why are you saying that? And you know what that hair symbolizes.

It symbolizes the very thing that made him consecrated to God. And in that moment, his hair was growing to indicate to us that though he lost so much, there's one thing that can be restored again, and that's his walk with God. And that you can plunge yourself into such deep darkness, embarrassing sin, relationally damaging sin. And no matter what you lost, even if it was your own limbs, there's one thing that your own sin can't take from you unless you turn from it. And that's reconciliation to the Lord.

And you can almost say that his hair was growing to show that his relationship with God was growing again. No matter what he looked like on the outside, his heart was stirred in the inside. And as he was grinding there, there was something going on in his heart. Do you wonder if Samson was talking to the Lord in that scene? Doesn't say, but I wonder I wonder if he was crying with those empty eyes, realizing what he had done.

Realizing what I didn't think was possible is actually possible. I made a fool of myself and I played the fool with God. And all the while in that broken state, even as pitch black as it was, your hair can grow again. You can walk with him again. You can know his pleasure again.

You can know his favor again even in that kind of state. What a mighty god. You know what's amazing? Is that Samson's hair was growing as a prisoner to the Philistines. You know what that means?

That the Philistines allowed his hair to grow when they had full knowledge that the very secret to his power was his long hair. If I believed, like you said, that the length of your hair is the source of your power, I'm gonna make sure that your hair doesn't grow again. Right? But his hair is growing and the Philistines say, whatever. Who cares?

Wonder why. And I wonder if it's because they knew that Samson really blew it and it was over. It's done. I wonder if Samson's case in the eyes of the Philistines was hopeless because that's how they interpreted their view of God. That when you serve Dagon and you serve Baal and you serve Molech, when you blow it, he doesn't give you a second chance.

You can't have the ability to restore yourself to him. You're done. So maybe they didn't have a concept of the God of Israel that actually does forgive even when you blow it royally. And many people today do not have that concept of God's grace and mercy. Many people today, even professing Christians, will damn you especially when you're part of a scandal.

Well damn you. They'll have no problem to say, you're on your way to hell. Hey, be careful of being the judge of somebody's eternal destination, no matter how much they mess up. And I'm so glad that you're not on God's throne and I'm not on God's throne. I'm so happy.

If God is a God of love, why would he send somebody to hell eternally? You would do much more if you had his authority. Proof? Go to the book of Jonah and what do you see? You see a prophet that's willing to burn up a city when God's like, they don't know their right from their left hand and look how much cattle they have.

Should I not be merciful to them? And Jonah's like, no. They're the Assyrians. They're in an advice. Look what they've done to us.

Let's just I'm waiting. God, reign. And we have the audacity to kick back and be all philosophical and say, what kind of God is this? This God of love who sends people to hell for eternity. You would have done it a thousand years ago.

You would have done it a thousand. You would have done it from the Garden of Eden. His hair begins to grow. The Philistines let his hair grow. So may we send that grace abounds?

God forbid. Let me sober you if you are inclined to that. Because that kind of thinking is just as foolish as Samson thinking when he said, I can have my haircut and still have God's grace and power on my life. Because no matter how much and where you go, if that's your motivation, then I can sin, I can plot this, I can create this situation and I know it's wrong, but God is merciful, God is gracious. Right?

That's how you think. Right? That's what you're telling her. Right? That's what you're telling him.

Right? God is merciful. He'll understand. No, he won't. God is merciful.

Let me tell you this. God is merciful. And you go with that, and perhaps he will forgive you and restore that relationship with you, because a safe person doesn't talk like that, so I'm worried how you're talking. But even if you're in a really deep place of temptation, you're convinced that it will all go back, let me tell you this. Yes, you can have God's restoration again.

Yes, you can have reconciliation again. But there are things that you will lose that you can never regain. Samson had his hair grow, but guess what he lost forever? His eyes. You can't travel through this and think that you won't come out with scars.

Yes, we're confident to know that how much I fail, God will take me back. But let me tell you, you might lose something for the rest of your journey on this earth. This foolishness that people convince themselves of when they're drunk with lust. God is merciful so they understand. You just might lose your eyes.

God is merciful. You just might lose your reputation for the rest of your existence. You'll make it to the gates, but you have a miserable life down here. Samson experienced God's mercy, but you know what God didn't do? Put fresh eyeballs in his socket.

So be careful. Be careful how you entertain sin and temptation in your life. Samson is experiencing something. Maybe it's taking time, but it's true nonetheless. My hair is growing.

My hair is growing. I can grow back with God. And that scene is quickly cut with this atrocious sight in verse 23. Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice and they said our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand. Let me put it this way.

When Christians fail, especially leaders, and when there are great scandals, What's a grievance to the heart of the Christian community is often the cause of celebration in the unbelieving world. We have to be careful because we don't want to give the enemy and those who do not believe or believe in other gods a reason to reinforce their unbelief in Christ. Be careful. The world is waiting for a scandal. The world longs for a scandal.

That's why we have to pray for our leaders because Satan has party set up waiting for people to fail so that he can give the unbelieving an excuse to remain in their state of unbelief. They're celebrating, they're saying, our God has brought the greatest enemy to us, public enemy number one into our hands. And that's why the scriptures in more than one place in the New Testament says something along the lines of what I'm about to read in first Peter three sixteen. Having a good conscience to Christians. You Christians, not just leaders, not just as Samson.

You, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. He says later on that the gentiles would have nothing evil to say about you and on the day of visitation give glory to God. Give glory to God. So in my life, I'm not supposed to give them ammunation to fire at me. In fact, when they slander me, oh, you're a Christian and you're a hypocrite and you're probably like those TV preachers that love money and have a different lifestyle.

And when they examine me and scrutinize me and study me and dig up all the things they realize, I apologize. Everything that we said about you is not true. And they're put to shame. That's not what's happening here. The only one that's in shame is Samson and they're having a party about it.

And I know we don't wanna hear it. I know it disappoints us. I know it makes us cringe, but may it put a fresh fear of God in us. I wanna live my life in a way where I can't give hell a party because of my failures, by the grace of God. But in this case, that's what we're seeing.

And it gets even worse. Verse 25, when their hearts were merry, they said, call Samson. Call Samson. We forgot. Samson's in the dungeon and he's grinding at the mill.

Call him so that he may entertain us. So that he may entertain us. So So they called Samson out of the prison and he entertained them. What a sight. I read this tonight and tears filled my eyes reading that.

You have the judge of Israel. What did he do to entertain him? Like a clown with no eyes dancing around. And here are these people drunk, merry and hard laughing. This is the guy.

This is the guy that we were so afraid of. Look at him. I praise God that the chapter doesn't end here. Samson said to the young man, there's a boy that's leading Samson. This mighty man, this superhero, this man of faith now has a young boy leading him.

And Samson without his eyes, probably resting from his entertainment for the moment saying, let me feel the pillars on which the house rests that I may lean against them. This little boy doesn't say anything, but sees this man in such a pathetic state, thinking to himself maybe he just needs to lean because he's so weak. So he leads Samson without his eyes and he lays him on one of the pillars, and there's Samson there, probably almost naked, dirty, dry blood, dehydrated, missing hair. And as he's there leaning, we begin to see why Samson was mentioned in Hebrews 11 as a man of faith, because he's there. Verse 27.

We are told that the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women who looked on while Samson entertained. So you have 3,000 people there. Now listen, this man killed a thousand with a jawbone of a donkey. They feel secure.

They feel confident. They're assured that they can be in the presence of this man and nothing will happen. And while they're laughing and mocking and maybe spitting and giving each other cheers and all that noise with the music and maybe Dagon, a statue of Dagon was right there in the middle and they're throwing things at it and celebrating him. Samson in verse 28 called to the lord. He called to the lord and said, oh, lord god, please remember me, And please strengthen me only this once, oh god, that I may be avenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.

Some people criticize Samson here that he's requesting something from god to have vengeance for himself. I don't see it that way because Hebrews 11 gives me confidence that he was a man of faith. And for the second and last time in his recorded life is Samson praying. And when you read this, you do not get the impression of a man who is proud and arrogant, do you? No.

I don't either. Please remember me. He knew that God had every right to ignore him. He knew that he had every right to feel God's coldness and isolation and his separation. He knew it.

He felt it. And he knew that he was in that place for his own sin, but he asked God graciously to turn his face toward him and to give him attention. Please remember me. And then he says, please strengthen me. Not again the way it was.

I'm just asking for one more dose of strength. And the reason why I'm asking for this strength is so that I can perform what you've called me originally to, and that is to bring deliverance to the people. To begin a delivering work from the Philistines. See, he didn't say, please strengthen me this once so I may escape and return to my land. He says, please strengthen me this once.

And then later on he says, let me die with the Philistines. Let me die with the Philistines. This is a man who was willing to submit to the mission of God that he was originally called to even though it cost him and it will cost him his life. Strengthen me this once more, God. And with what you give me, I will honor you to my death.

And you know why I believe that it was a prayer of faith? How do we know? Because God answers it. Simple as that. If I cherish iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear me, Psalm 66 says.

Samson has a clean heart. And so I wonder if he began to feel what he felt before. I wonder if he began to feel what he felt when he faced that lion that roared for his life. I wonder if he began to feel that strength that he felt when a thousand Philistines were before him and he had the jawbone of a donkey in his hand. I wonder what he felt.

Or maybe he didn't feel anything. And he puts one hand on one pillar, and he reaches out without seeing his left hand to another pillar. And after finishing his prayer, it says he pushes with all his might, and, oh, I would have loved to seen it. As the ground began to shake and the musicians stopped playing, people look over, people on the balcony looked down, and they see this weak, pathetic Jewish man with no eyes suddenly shaking the foundations of the temple. And people are realizing his god is answering him.

We should be just as shocked at the mercy of God. That he's willing to answer the prayer of a person that had blown it. He is. And the temple falls, and three thousand people died. And we are told here, at the second part of verse 30, so the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.

And although it's very hard to see it, can you see it? The traces of prophecy concerning the ministry of Jesus Christ. Like Samson and Jesus, both were sold by someone that was close to them for the sake of selfish gain. Judas, Delilah. Like Samson and Jesus, both were called by their enemies to entertain them.

What did Herod say? Perform some miracle for me. Jesus wouldn't. Jesus wouldn't. And when they put that robe after he was flogged and they put a crown of thorns and they put a staff in his hand and they hailed him as the king of the Jews and it says they mocked him, Samson and Jesus became a source of entertainment for the wicked.

Samson and Jesus, that the most triumphant episode in their lives was actually their deaths. Samson killed more in his death. Jesus did much more in his death. But unlike Samson, Jesus was not arrested, mocked, and tortured because of his own sin and disobedience, but because of ours. That's the difference.

Samson was there because of himself. Jesus was there because of us. And that's why these types and shadows can only go so far, but they give us an idea and they give us a glimpse that there is a deliverance that's going to come by somebody's death that will be more triumphant than whatever he does in his life. But he'll be perfect and holy, and he'll stand in our place. He'll have his back scourged, and he'll have his hands pierced, and symbolically, not literally, he'll he'll have his eyes gouged out for us.

Samson killed 3,000 without his eyes. How many men did he kill at once with his eyes? A thousand. I wonder if Samson spiritually gouged out his eyes, how much more he could have done in his life. How much more he could have done.

It didn't have to end this way. Had Samson gouged out his eyes, who knows what he could have done and he could have still lived to see it. I didn't realize the time. So we come to verse 31. He dies with them.

And then we're told, then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Ishtaol in the tomb of Manoah, his father. He had judged Israel twenty years. His family members had enough grace in their hearts and God, by his grace, allowed them to come into hostile enemy territory. When 3,000 were just struck, I mean, you don't wanna go in now, but they go in and they go through the rubble and they recognize, even though he had no hair and no eyes, the mangled body of their brother. And they pull him out of the rubble and they take him back home and they give him a proper burial.

Question as we close in a moment. Between Zorah and Ishtaol, where have we seen that before? Do you know? Between Zorah and Ishmael. Go back to Judges 13 verse 24.

And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew and the Lord blessed him. And the spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahanadam between Zorah and Eshtaol. And the spirit of the Lord began to stir him. It was in that same location that as he was growing up, he began to experience special stirrings from the Holy Spirit.

He began to develop his relationship with the spirit of God. He began to sense something of his call in a tangible manner. And where does he end? In the same place but not in the same way. Think about it.

Between Zorah and Ishmael, you see a potential mighty man of God for his generation. You see a prospect. You see a man of God ready to do damage to the kingdom of darkness for the glory of God. And then when you come back to that place, you see the same man with no hair, no eyes. And not the stirrings of the spirit, but the spirit of God removed from him.

The book of Judges and this story is supposed to make you feel sad. And when you see where Samson ends up, where he began, he doesn't end the way he started. Here's my call to action. Finish the way you started. Finish the way you started.

If you started with the spirit of God on your life, stirring your heart, breaking your heart, giving you hope and a desire for a purpose to being fulfilled, end with the same stirrings and the same passion, if not greater. Unfortunately, as we've been told by Proverbs, that many men like Samson do not end the way they started. Make it your life goal not to make a million dollars, not to drive the latest car, not to have a type of house, not to wear the certain trend. Make it your life goal. That God, you stirred my heart when I got saved.

You've been stirring my heart throughout my life and I'm ending with a stirred heart. I'm ending with a stirred heart. I don't want to end any other way. I can end with a disease that eats up my bones, God forbid, but as long as my heart is stirred by the spirit of God, I'll die a happy man. I'll die a happy man.

Samson, what's the point? Yes, God was gracious. Yes, he was merciful. Yes, he did more in his death than in his life, but he could have done more with his life if he had first died to himself. That's the difference.

That's the difference. And so I'm ending it there, so we can feel the weight of the story. We can feel the weight of this story. Don't worry. There's gonna be very hopeful books, coming along down the pipe.

We're gonna read of Ruth and we're gonna read of wonderful things. Feel the weight of this story tonight. And realize the appalling course that can take place in a man's life. And if there's any call I'm gonna make, it's to the non believer in this place. If you're not a Christian in this place, you heard a bible study that is meant for Christians and maybe you didn't understand the full implications of it, but let me get to what's the most important thing that you need to know before you leave this place.

And that is if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. That's the most important thing. And my call to you is this, is that no matter what you've done with your eyes, no matter what prostitutes you've been with, no matter how much you've run away from God, just like Samson, you have a chance to be restored to him. And you have the opportunity to be in a right relationship with him. And not based on what you do, and not based on what you say necessarily, it's based on what your heart trust in.

I don't care what dark place you're in tonight. I don't care. Doesn't matter how hopeless it looks. Doesn't matter what relationships you've done wrong. It doesn't matter what has been done to you.

Know this, that there is this God, the same God that blessed Samson along the journey and even at his death and compromise, wants you to come to him desperately. He's not like the other gods. He's not like the Moleks. He's not like the Baals. He's not like the Dagon.

He's a different God. Merciful, kind, compassionate. And the only reason why, like, a Samson can get to heaven and now you can get to heaven is not based on performance tonight. It's based on the performance of another. See the reason why we study the old testament is, yeah, we get some practical truth from it, but the whole point, the the main thesis of the old testament is, man cannot satisfy God.

Man cannot please God. Even if God takes a nation, shows up on a mountain, manifest his glory, gives them promises, gives them wealth, gives them land, all these wonderful things, they won't be able to walk in his commands. And they won't be able to please him with their life. Because we're all infected, we're all diseased with sin. Try not to sin between now and tomorrow morning in your thought life.

Try not to sin between now and next week with actions and words and what you watch. Your conscience testifies to you that you are a sinner. And maybe you've been told even by supposed Christians that you're all fine and dandy and everything's okay. No. The wrath of God abides on you.

Judgment is coming. It's coming on this nation, it's coming on every individual and it will be eternal damnation. And people that don't believe in God or don't believe in that kind of God are in the shock of their lives. When they see him and realize all the blasphemy that they spewed out of their mouths will only be held against them in judgment. But at the same time, Christ so loves you.

So loves you. We're all like Samson. We're all like we're a mockery in the sight of God, in the sight of this world. He was crushed and he drank hell for you. And he got upon a wooden cross and it wasn't just about the nails and it wasn't just about the mockery and it wasn't about the spitting and it wasn't about anything else.

It was about God judging him in that moment. And there is something happening in the spiritual realm and so intense was it in the spiritual realm that it began to affect the physical realm. And the earth shook and the sun became dark and people in that moment began to see this is something beyond normal. Because there was a transaction being made on that mountain in Israel two thousand years ago. The sin of the world including yours, every single thing that you've ever done against God, every thought, every pornography click, every stolen thing, every stupid thing that you've said with your lips, it came upon his shoulders.

And God in his holiness poured out his perfect wrath until he was satisfied in his justice. And Christ took the sin of the whole world in that moment. And when he drank God's wrath, he turned the cup over with no drop coming out of it. And when he took your place on that cross, he wants you to realize that a payment was made and that if you believe that he made it, that you can have your sins forgiven and wiped clean So that when you stand before God, the same way he saw you in Christ on the cross, he'll see Christ in you when you stand before him. That's the good news of Christianity.

Don't get it twisted now. It's not about what you can do. It's not about how much you can impress God. One already did it on your behalf. It's as foolish as you trying to pay off a debt that's already been paid.

You're wasting your resource, your time, and your energy. It's already been done. Believe it, accept it, and run with it as you relish in the grace of God. And that's available to you. Let's pray.

Christian ask god tonight. Lord, I've started well by your grace. Maybe I've had a few hiccups on the way, but Lord, I do not wanna end. I do not wanna end without my eyes, with a cut off ministry, with a cut off call. I wanna end the way I started, with your favor and your grace and with a fulfilled mission.

By your mercy, Lord, I pray that you would keep me and that you would give me the fear of God with the wisdom that comes with it so that I can discern and understand and walk with a cautious spirit. And if you're in this place and you have messed up as a Christian, realize that your hair can grow back. And if you're in this place and you've messed up and you're tempted to mess up again, you might have not lost your eyes this time, but you are able to lose your eyes again. Be careful now. Don't play the fool with God.

May Samson's story ever be before your eyes and mine. Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for your precious presence in this place. We thank you that you've arrested us with the authority and the truth of your word. Lord, what needed to be said is said, and we trust that what you needed to say specifically to our lives has been accomplished. But father in heaven, we ask right now that the work would not be finished until what needs to happen needs to happen.

We ask, Lord, that changes will be made in our thinking, changes will be made in our attitudes, changes will be made in the way we relate to others. Lord, we wanna be in your perfect will. Thank you for your grace and mercy even in seasons of compromise and sin. But Lord, we don't want it. We don't wanna entertain that line, Lord.

We wanna be in your full favor and your full light. And we ask Lord that you would bring us there. We ask you Lord that the book of judges would not lose its heaviness in this moment, Lord. That we would feel the weight of it. We would feel the weight of it.

And we say, please remember us. And please strengthen us. Not in the moment of our death, but Lord, every day as we live for your glory. We worship you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, that we have an insight of the goodness and the kindness of God that the Philistines do not.

We magnify you. We extol you. We ascribe to you power and glory and majesty. You are wonderful. You are glorious.

You are merciful beyond our understanding. And Lord, we lean upon you tonight, and we thank you that nothing is impossible for you. There's no sin too deep or great for you to not reach out and grab us back to yourself. And we ask, oh God, that we would sense the tugging of your kindness and mercy, Lord. Lord, if if there is a sin that we were meditating to perform, Lord, if we were planning to go to Gaza tonight or next week, we take this as your voice warning us.

And we halt and we stop and we say, I will go where God called me to go. Full obedience to the will of God. Lord, we can't do this apart from your power and mercy. You must deposit it in us tonight. Lord, we sit here without rushing and saying, oh God, the same spirit that stirred Samson, stir us tonight.

Stir us tonight and keep stirring us by your grace. Lord, we need you to make this real to us. And we call upon you in humility and faith trusting that it will come to pass. In Jesus name, we pray these things. Amen and amen.

Amen. Just play softly, please. Speak to your God as we concluded with Samson's story tonight. We're not done with the book of Judges. But just talk to the Lord tonight and say, Lord, I believe this story is real.

I believe that it actually happened. I believe that it's saying something to me. And God, I just I just pray if you have anything to pray for in this place, it's that the course of your faithfulness to God would be held by his mercy and power. Ask him for that. You may not see the need of it now, but trust me, there is a foe, there are Delilah's, there is a scheme, especially for those who really wanna serve God.

And what the Lord wants to tell you tonight according to his word is that you must cling to him for him to bring you through. Cling to him. Cling to him. Him.