Samson and His Sin (Part5)

4) Sin Grinds You (Destroys Your Life)

Samson met another prostitute whose name was Delilah.  (Judges 16:4 – “Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.”) He had not learned his lesson.  Some people never do!  Delilah used sex to make money while Samson used sex for pleasure.  Delilah could be bought while Samson could be had.  Carnal, immoral, and ungodly people know this fact of human nature.  What happened? Read v.5. The Philistine rulers devised a plot to have Delilah learn the truth from Samson as to his great physical strength.  She would receive thousands of dollars for her work.  Gary Lowe: “It takes a big man to resist the sexual advances of a woman.” Samson could not do this!  Read v.6.  Delilah made three fruitless attempts to gain Samson’s confidence and secret.  Since he loved playing word games, Samson teased Delilah by inventing a means whereby he would become as weak as any other man and could be captured (1) If he were tied up with seven fresh thongs (bowstrings prepared from animal viscera), (2) If he were tied up with new ropes that have never been used (but the effectiveness of this had already been disproven: 15:13), and (3) If his hair (getting closer to the truth) was woven into the fabric on the loom.  Delilah futilely tried each method, apparently while Samson slept (as in 16:13), and seemed to tease him by crying out, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” (vvs. 9, 12, and 14) when in reality she was testing the success or failure of each method before the Philistines, hidden in the room (vvs.9,12) dared to show themselves.  Delilah was very persistent and Samson “broke.”  (Read Judges 16:15-20). James McDonald states: “The saddest words in the Old Testament are found in Judges 16:20, ‘But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.’”  Samson was once again disobedient to his God as he broke the Nazarite vow.  His strength was gone, not because he received an unforgettable haircut, but because God had removed him as a Judge of Israel.  Chuck Swindoll states: “Disobedience will lead to disgrace every time.”  Prov. 7:21-23 states: “With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced (compelled) him.  Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till an arrow struck his liver.  As a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life.”  The Philistines captured Samson and gouged out his eyes.  The lustful eyes which caused Samson to fall into sexual sin would never see a woman again, the man who could have had it all, lost his eyes and was placed in prison grinding meal.  Mike Brooks: “The wheels of God’s justice turn very slowly, but as they turn, they grind very finely.”  Sin Grinds You (Destroys Your Life).  Samson exemplifies those who are greatly gifted by God and fail to use their spiritual gifts to God’s glory.  But his Lord was not finished with him. Judges 16:23-31 tells us that Samson’s hair grew back, and the Philistines took him to an arena where 3,000 people would laugh and make sport of him.  He prayed and asked God to strengthen him one last time.  “Then Samson prayed to the Lord, ‘O Sovereign Lord, remember me.  O God, please, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes’” Judges 16:28 (NIV1984). Samson was a bad steward of the gift of sight.  The eyes that Almighty God predestined to see the lostness of humanity were used for lust instead.  He allowed his eyes to lead him astray.  His eyes, like his heart and mind, were deceived by his unbridled lust.  The eyes that caused his downfall were gone, but yet, for the first time in his life, Samson could see spiritually; the way the Lord wanted him to see all along.  The only way that he could see naturally was by a little boy leading him.  A little boy was leading a strong man.  You do not see spiritually with your physical eyes.  You see with your heart!  The Lord had been trying to get Samson to see this way since he was a teenage boy.  It took a tragedy in his life to get his attention.  It was not until Samson lost his “natural eyesight” that he could finally see “spiritually”, the way Almighty God had intended for him to see his entire life.  Samson could see “spiritually” without his natural eyesight what he could never see spiritually when he had his natural eyesight.  Samson pushed against the braces of the arena and prayed: “Let me die with the Philistines.”  God answered his prayer, and the Bible tells us that he killed more people in his death than he did in his life (Judges 16:30).  Samson is a tragic hero.  He committed suicide.  Samson could not control his sex drive and his life is a stern warning to all in this assembly who cannot control their sex drive.  Sin Grinds You (Destroys Your Life).  Samson and His Sin.  (1) Sin Finds You.  (2) Sin Binds You.  (3) Sin Blinds You.  (4) Sin Grinds You (Destroys Your Life). The Bible is very clear that sexually immoral people will not go to Heaven (1 Cor. 6:9-10).  Rev. 21:8 states: “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Does Almighty God forgive sexual sin? (1John 1:9).

Delivery man: “I was a fornicator and an adulterer. I have been forgiven!”