If you have your Bibles, would you turn with me, please? Judges, the book of Judges, chapter 16. We've been looking at Samson, the 12th judge, the last of the book of Judges. And chapter 15, as we closed out those two chapters, ends with these words, and he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines, 20 years. Now the only thing that's left of a pattern that we're used to or have developed in the book of Judges is that the next sentence we expect is, and he died. But it doesn't say that. He is not like, Samson is not like the others. He has changed the mold. And what we're given at the end of 15 and into 16 is a turning point. His judgeship is over. He judged Israel 20 years. But instead of he died, we turn to the story of his death. How did he die? Judges chapter 16, beginning at verse one. Samson went to Gaza and there he saw a prostitute and he went into her. The Gazites were told, Samson has come 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 walk, let us wait till the light of the morning, then we will kill him. 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 to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron. Let's stop there for a bit. Pray with me, please. Father, we do pray that you would open your word to us this day. We will remain, Lord, deaf or blind without your spirit. And so grant us that grace and favor, we pray, to hear and receive your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Recently, Time Magazine published a special edition. Yes, I read Time. I also read World, and so I get some differing worldviews, perspectives there. But they did a special edition on the opioid epidemic in our country today and the staggering impact of that addiction as it takes over people's lives, as they become blinded to their condition, to its effects, to their effect on the world around them. As we come to the end of Samson's story, what we're going to see in many ways is the depth of his blindness and the effects of it. These few verses here at the beginning of 16 are tying us to what Samson has been and what he has It ties us to his past and it points us to what is it that gives us the sort of the ground structure of what's about to take place in Samson's life. I'll use the word addictions in regard to Samson's blindness, if you will, women. Now, he's gone to a Philistine prostitute. And he wants her. It seems that she's right in his eyes. But I think we get a sense that Samson likes the danger of these things as well. He's not in Judah. He's not somewhere in Israel now. Now he's in Gaza. He's in the heart of Philistine territory. He's in a walled city. This is a dangerous place. theoretically have no escape if they knew he was there and they were after him. But his arrogance begins to have an effect and it's leading to recklessness in his life. His arrogance seems to be that he's convinced his strength will never desert him. It's always there. It's his to use as he pleases because that's, of course, what we see him doing. over and over again. And so, in this particular case, he gets up at midnight, he doesn't last, he doesn't stay till morning, has a sense of, okay, now it's time to get out of here, and goes and rips up the doors. Now, you know, understand those are gates, they're huge, okay? Rips out the post, takes it bar and all, throws it on his shoulders and takes it 40 miles away. Yeah, that's a demonstration of strength, I would say. Leaves this gaping hole in the wall of the city of Gaza. You know, their protection has been minimized, if you will. But what's happening, what we see is that Samson is treating that strength, that gift, as if it's his alone. It's not a gift from the Lord in that sense. It's an entitlement. He can do whatever he wants. He can break anything of his vows that he wants but he's still going to have that strength. His success is assured. He makes a dreadful assumption and that is that the Lord will always protect him that that strength will always be there because it's his no matter how foolish his actions or his provocations. He doesn't need to curb his appetites. He's blind. He doesn't see what is happening to him. And so he uses the gifts of God to serve his own ends. He takes God's gifts, whether it's the gift of sexual love or the gift of his strength, and he abuses them. Now, hear this. In grace, God does use our weaknesses and our failures for His glory and His good. It's an amazing thing that God can do in terms of using our weakness, our failures for His glory. It's His grace that does that. But sin turns it around. In sin, we take God's blessings and His provision and we turn them to our own ends. We seek our satisfaction not in the giver, but in the gifts. That is, in the gifts themselves. And so, even with Samson, those gifts ceased to be a means of life and they soon become the means of death. We deny the God who has given us what we need. Samson has become arrogant. This is his to use as he pleases. He will use it to his own ends. Sex is a wonderful gift from God and within the bounds of marriage and the bonds of marriage. It's a bonding force. It's an expression of unity that makes us wonder sometimes what heaven is going to be like when that's simply so much more wonderful. The sinful heart takes the blessings and the joys of that relationships. of that physical relationship and it turns it to an end in itself. My satisfaction becomes the end. It ceases to be a gift of the creator and is made a tool for my enjoyment or my profit. It's separated from God's design. It becomes an addiction with dreadful consequences. And so we look at that in our, not just our country, the plague of pornography is worldwide at this point in terms of the damage that it is doing. And so men and women, more and more women, are trapped in this cycle of pornography. And it's not just unbelievers. Many, many believers, men and women, have fallen into the trap. If you're caught in that spiral, please understand you are not alone and there is help. Don't sit alone with your shame, but seek that help. Find someone who will come alongside you to help you and we can help you find the resources to be delivered from that bondage. But this is back to Samson. This is who Samson was. In many ways, he was an addict. He couldn't control his desires. He didn't want to control his desires. They thought they were his to be used as he pleased. He had become blind spiritually and it would lead to a true physical blindness. Meet Delilah. Delicious. Delilah, as far as Samson is concerned. Verse four. After this, he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, seduce him and see where his great strength lies. And by what means we may overpower him, that we may hand him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1100 pieces of silver. So Delilah said to Samson, please tell me where your strength, your great strength lies and how you might be bound that no one could subdue you. Samson said to her, if they bind me with seven fresh bow strings that have not been tried, then I shall become weak and like any other man. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bow strings that had not been tried and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he snapped the bow strings as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. We saw that last week, children, didn't we? So the secret of his strength was not known. Now, her motivation seems pretty clear. 1100 pieces of silver from a number of these Philistine lords. It was greed. And the Philistines obviously know his weakness. Seduce him, he'll tell you anything. If anyone can get the secret out of him, a woman can. And her strategy shows, I think, incredible subtlety, don't you think? How do you say this in some coy manner? Oh, please tell me where your great strength lies, Samson. It just doesn't work. And how you might be bound that no one could subdue you. What is he? Well, he's not thinking. OK. That's a pretty direct question, I think. even if you're turning on the charm. But now we're playing a game. Remember, Samson kind of likes the challenge. He likes the danger. Okay, maybe there's a little bit here. But Samson, he doesn't realize in his spiritual blindness is under her power. He's in her power. How do I know that? Verse 10. Then Delilah said to Samson, now remember what just happened. Samson, the Philistines are upon you. Snap. Next verse, then Delilah said to Samson, he's still there. What in the world is he doing? Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound. We're going to still play the game. And it goes on. I think it's astonishing that he's there, period. But two more times this trap is set. Bind me with new ropes, that will do it. Take my hair and weave it into the loom, use the pin, that's going to do it. Hey, we're getting dangerously close now, aren't we? Because now we're playing with the hair. I put in the outline there, soporific Samson. Now, some of you have read the Flopsy Bunnies, so you know immediately what soporific means. The Flopsy Bunnies got into the farmers, you know, got into the soporific lettuces and they ate themselves into a sleepy stupor, okay, so that they would end up in the stew was the plan there. Samson, man, he's asleep at the switch here. This woman is an anesthesia and she's an anesthetic to him. He's taken the sedative. He is totally captive to her, quote unquote, love. And it is his misplaced love because he is losing his senses. He has become spiritually blind. He's lost his sight. And so she wins. He sins. He gives in to her sobs and tears and reveals the last of the signs of his Nazarite vow. She says to him, now the fourth episode, how can you say, verse 15, how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and you have not told me where your great strength lies. And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. And he told her all his heart. And he said to her, a razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite to God. from 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 she knew she had him. Now she knew she had the truth. And so now she could call them back. They'd stayed in hiding that first time, waiting to see when she cried out, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And snap! Well, that was a lie. But now she knew she had him. He crosses a line. She gives him what he wanted. He gives her what she wanted. And he's soporific, asleep in her lap. His head is shaven. He never learns. He never learns. I think of Proverbs 26 11 like a dog that returns to his vomit. Its own vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. He was despising God's blessing and call this desire for women for the desire of the moment just overwhelms a calling of a lifetime. Now before before we immediately rise up to condemn Samson Make sure we understand something here, that whenever you or I choose to sin, whether it's with our eyes, or with our hands, or with our words, or with our thoughts, when we make that choice, and it is a choice, we are saying, we are making the blatant statement, I love this more than I love God. more than my Savior, more than the truth. I would rather have this momentary satisfaction, fleeting as it may be, this momentary happiness than an eternity of holiness and bliss. How many times has the Lord had to rescue you from the same situation? Because I went right back to it. With Samson's betrayal and surrender to the Philistines, the Lord's patience ends. She said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke 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. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. The Lord's patience ended. Samson's assumptions that he would always have this strength and power, he could use it as he pleases, was shattered. Now why God acts now, we can't know for certain, but we do know that every mark of that Nazarite vow is now gone from Samson. He has broken every one, some of them, repeatedly. And the consequences of his sin will be born. Blindness, his spiritual blindness leads to true physical blindness. Bondage as he's imprisoned. Shame, degradation as he's forced to do the work of an animal grinding that mill around. Or the works of slaves and servants. It's what sin does. It blinds It imprisons, of course, with the promise of freedom. This is what's going to give you true freedom and delight. But it becomes, indeed, a prison. And it covers us with shame. Apart from God's grace, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, we will remain in that blindness. Because God tells us, the Word tells us, We're dead in our trespasses and sins. And you'll see it all around you, the evidence of that blindness. I watched an interview with Bill Maher, an avowed and vocal atheist, and Ross Douthat, who's written a book called Bad Religion, How We Became a Nation of Heretics. His contention is that as the true Christianity has been undercut and is pushed to the side of our culture more and more. What has risen is not a people that are now atheists, but people who are very religious, but not with the truth, with all manner of heresy and insanity. They still want to believe. but the things they believe in become more and more absurd. It was interesting to watch the interview because Maher obviously couldn't see where he was blind. The suppositions that he had made, the ways that he would dismiss things, he couldn't see what was set right before him. And so there was no subtlety to his argument at all. He had decided that nobody rises from the dead, so Jesus didn't rise from the dead. That the Bible couldn't be an inspired work, so it's just contradictions. Even when a reasoned argument points out the things, the ways to understand these things, there was just a complete blindness there. Believers experience it too. When we are drawn into sin, But it's grace that allows us to see our sin, to feel our shame, to drive us to Jesus Christ, who can open eyes, who bore our sins, who takes away our shame. And so in the life of the believer, the consequences of our sin, God uses to bring us back to himself. Pray that our eyes are opened. The Lord does. ultimately restore spiritual sight. Before I turn to that, consider for a moment, though, the Philistines' blindness. They've captured, they've de-haired, and they've de-eyed Samson. But they let his hair grow back. Blind doesn't mean weak. But their assumption is his power is broken. They, you know, this is a world of magic, of superstition. for them. That power must be broken. Our superstitions, our superstitious God wins. The lords of the Philistines, verse 23, 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 hands. And when the people saw him, they praised their God, for they said, our God has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country who has killed many of us. And when their hearts were merry, in other words, they weren't thinking very clearly, they said, call Samson that he may entertain us. So they called Samson out of the prison and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. I am speaking here, I mean, we're talking about the insanity of sin. This is that continued insanity. They call him out to entertain them. All the officials have come together, all the leaders have come together, and they want him to entertain. Well, you can simply imagine what that entertainment is going to be. They're going to torture him for their pleasure. He's blind, so they can come at him from any angle. They can pummel him. They can whip him. They can beat him. They can set dogs on him. This can be really entertaining. And they've stripped him naked, and they're finally going to stand him there between the pillars so that they can mock him and humiliate him. They can humiliate this judge of the people of Israel and humiliate the nation of Israel as well. But it was not superstition that was at work in Samson and his power. It was the power of God. And it was the plan of God to use him against the Philistines, to find an occasion, to find occasion against the Philistines. It was God's power that would work. in Samson. It was not some magic. It was not some superstitious element there. Samson gets an important piece of information. Ah, two pillars right here. Seemed innocent enough as he stood there being mocked. 3,000 people on the roof, who knows how many underneath it at this temple. Samson called to the Lord, verse 28, and said, Oh Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once. He recognizes where that power is from, who it's from, and what it was for. O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. Then he bowed with all his strength and the house fell upon the lords and upon the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him and buried him between Zorah and Eshtoal. Eshtoal, in the tomb of Manoah, his father. And he judged Israel 20 years. This passage ends. This story ends in the climax, a prayer. Now, portion one ended with a prayer, you remember, a prayer to live. God, give me water. That was his first prayer. His last prayer is a prayer to die, to die with honor, to die in the Lord's service, to die in battle against the Philistines, to know God's favor again, to know his strength and to use it against the Philistines. why he was given that power in the first place, in the battle against the enemy. He would declare the glory of the Lord over the powerless Dagon. And finally, we see Samson exercise that mustard seed of faith. We haven't seen it, have we? In three chapters, we've not seen an exercise of faith, save in that prayer that he might have water. But he finally exercises faith that we had hoped to see all along. He's seeking to be not just an unwitting servant in the Lord's hands, but truly a servant in the Lord's hands. Consider, think about what Israel, the people of Israel would have seen in this story as they come back to read it. I mean, Israel's hope is here because Samson, we understand, and they had to understand, was a reflection of Israel, a picture of their condition writ large in this man. Israel, like Samson, was consecrated to God. set apart by Him. Not their choice, God's choice. Chosen not because of greatness or special goodness, but because God chose to put His love upon them. And they would see Samson richly blessed by God in his strength and power, in his ability, as they had been blessed richly by God. Seeing God's favor Granted to Samson over and over again as they in their own history could look back and say God has blessed us He has rescued us repeatedly shown us his grace and favor as we cry out to him but like Samson forsaking their first love Chasing after other gods and yet expecting the Lord would just continue to grant that favor and blessing As if it was theirs guaranteed to them no matter what they did. Like Samson, they too could be blind to the danger and the bondage that they were in in sin, assuming that the God of Israel is still there. But they were in the grave danger of the Lord deserting them, turning them over to their folly. like that church in Laodicea who are described as wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, naked. They were moving toward that sorrow of the Lord departing from them altogether. We look around our country today and we can see churches, churches that claim the name of Christ, but deny the truth of the word, or deny its teaching, deny the good news of the gospel, captured by the loves and the values of the world, having a form of religion, but not its power, having the appearance of godliness, as Timothy says, 2 Timothy 3.5, having that appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Do we understand that sins consequences, those dreadful consequences are not going to be avoided or escaped. Yes, Israel could look at Samson and see themselves. But they could look at Samson and be reminded. They could be reminded that, yes, there is yet that hope. They too can pray, they can cry out to the Lord, repent of their foolish and sinful ways. They could cling to the Lord. Why? Because God has acted to forgive and deliver his people. He has provided a true and just and righteous and perfect Savior in Jesus Christ. They would look ahead to their Deliverer, even as we look back. so many lessons we can take out of Samson today. Let me just highlight a few. Consider the vessels that God chooses. And there's a warning and a promise for the church here. The warning that God isn't going to allow us to abuse his gifts. But a promise as well that he will use his people for his glory. But what we remember, must remember, is it is not the vessels that are great and so they're going to be used by God. It's not that Samson in his own power, in his own will, in his own strength was that mighty man. As he was set apart, as he would trust in the Lord, as he would look to Him, he would have that strength and might, and God could use him. He would use him even in his weaknesses and sins. What an amazing God we have. But the vessels that God uses, they're flawed, they're cracked, they're fragile, they're, in reality, weak. Samson, on his own, apart from the Lord, was like any other man. and in some ways maybe not even as strong or great. But what does God do? He takes the weak, the flawed, the cracked, and pours His power into them. We have this treasure in jars of clay, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4-7, to show the surpassing power that belongs to God and not to us. God uses those vessels, brothers and sisters, that he can shape, that he can strengthen and equip, the ones that he can fill and use to his honor and glory. And so we learn and know and hear that in Christ we're predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. That's a tool God can use. and He will strengthen us according to the riches of His glory that He may grant us to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner being by which He equips us for everything good that we may do His will. And then He fills us with all joy and peace in believing so that the power of the Holy Spirit may abound in us, in hope. God will use, you may feel like that very broken, weak vessel. Will you look to the one who can transform, who can strengthen, who can equip, who can fill you? as his instrument and tool, that is our hope in the power of God. One more thing before I close. The story of Samson is one of great anticipation and dreadful disappointment. It starts, he's like no other judge. chosen before he was born, set apart from the womb. And what it does, of course, is it raises in us finally one who's really going to stand, who's really going to follow the Lord, who's really going to bring that deliverance. And of course, what we see in Samson is this whole muddle of his life. He's entertaining, that's true. What he's doing is exciting, but it's ultimately very disappointing. That vaulted beginning has a faithful ending, we can say, but the grip of the Philistines is never broken. Judgment against them, there's no deliverance. The people never throw off those bonds of oppression. Samson taunts them, but he emulates them in his own life. There's no peace, there's no rest in the land. As a matter of fact, with him running around, it's just the opposite. Even Samson's death couldn't deliver God's people from their bondage, from their disobedient hearts. Bondage to the Philistines, bondage to themselves. But what does it point us to? Great anticipation and terrible disappointment? That's not what we're called to. I'd love to take the next 10 minutes and just compare Jesus to Samson. and a miraculous birth, and great anticipation, a life that is lived with such power being displayed day by day. There they are, set apart, a life of power and wonders, betrayed by ones that they loved, their inner circle, if you will, their lives end in bondage and in abuse. And yet their last words are prayers. Yes. Jesus, too, sets in our hearts great anticipation, but he shattered all the expectations, not with disappointment, but with amazement and wonder. That death was not defeat for Him, it was God's victory over sin and death. There is no disappointment for those who look to Jesus in great anticipation, who look to Him for their salvation and their life, and what awaits us, the hope that is there. We can't even imagine the beauty, the glory, the wonder, the life and the love, the rest, the peace that awaits us. What does the Scripture say? He is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or think or ask or imagine it is sometimes translated. No disappointments at all. We think of the glories of heaven. I haven't a clue because it is I can't see it. It's beyond me. What I'm promised, what I know, is that the anticipation is going to be satisfied beyond my comprehension. Disappointment? It's not in the vocabulary anymore. Samson's a fun story, exciting. It is an important story. to make sure that we understand where the gifts of God come from and where and how they are to be used. It's a tremendous story to tell us that there is yet forgiveness and grace if we will turn to the one who holds that power and there is no loss in it. No matter what this life presents, no matter what, that hope remains. Take hold of it today, brothers and sisters. Father, open our eyes. We acknowledge, Lord, apart from your spirit, apart from your grace, we are blind. And in our sin, Father, we are often blinded. Deliver us from that bondage, not by our determination and power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Spirit of Christ at work in those who believe, who would turn to you. And Lord, fill us with that hope and the knowledge that glory awaits us that is beyond imagination. Hear us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.