Well, good morning, everyone. We're glad you're here today. We're gonna invite you to come in and find a seat as we get started with our worship service. We're so thankful that you've chosen to be with us this morning. And we're gonna begin our worship by looking to the word of the Lord. So as you find your way in, we're gonna read Psalm 100 this morning. Psalm 100, and the word of the Lord says, make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Let's pray this morning. Heavenly Father, Lord, that is our desire and prayer this morning. This morning with thankful hearts, Lord, with hearts full of praise toward you as we want to offer up our voices and our hearts to you as a sacrifice of praise, as we come into the sanctuary here and ready to worship you this morning, God. And we just ask that you would guide us in our worship of you today. It's in your name we pray, amen. I invite you to stand this morning as we continue in that, as we just read, we bring the sacrifice of praise. We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. And we offer up to you the sacrifices of thanksgiving. And we offer up to you the sacrifices of joy. We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. And we offer up to you the sacrifices of thanksgiving. And we offer up to you the sacrifices of joy. Will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart I will enter His courts with praise I will say this is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice for He has made me glad He has made me glad. He has made me glad. I will rejoice for He has made me glad. He has made me glad. He has made me glad. I will rejoice for He has made me glad. I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I will enter his courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice for he has made me glad. He has made me glad. He has made me glad. I will rejoice for he has made me glad. I'm gonna give you one more chance to greet one another this morning and tell someone, he has made me glad. ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ Lord God Almighty ♪ Early in the morning ♪ Our song shall rise to Thee ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ Merciful and mighty ♪ God in three persons ♪ Blessed Trinity ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ All the saints adore thee ♪ Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea ♪ ♪ Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee ♪ ♪ Which word and art there is worthy to say ♪ ♪ Evermore shall be ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ Though the darkness hide thee ♪ Though the eye of sinful man ♪ Thy glory may not see Only Thou art holy There is none beside Thee Perfect in power In love and purity Holy, holy, oh Lord God All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty. God in three persons, blessed Trinity God in three persons, blessed Trinity Amen, as we encounter the holiness of God and the perfection of who God is, it should serve to remind us of our own sinfulness. And when that happens, what we should remember also is that not only is our God holy, he is faithful and he is faithful and just to forgive those sins on those for those that would confess them to him. So let's sing about the faithfulness of God now. Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever will be. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above. Joined with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside. ♪ Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Morning by morning new mercies I see ♪ ♪ All I have needed Thy hand hath provided ♪ Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Amen. You may be seated. Good morning and welcome. Thank you for coming and worshiping with us this morning. It is a joy to be together and sing praises to the Lord, is it not? So a few announcements this morning. I think they're coming up. Women's ministries. Prayer meeting weekly, Thursday, 9 a.m. in the library this week. See Carol Hensel or Peggy Schultz. And it's a joyous time to come together and pray for our church and for our brothers and sisters. And so we encourage that to happen. Then there's the pray and polish. It's a neat idea. I know many hands make light work. And it's fun to work together with someone else. And I don't like working by myself. And so it's really nice when a brother or sister comes alongside and helps. So to come together, pray and do some cleaning and little work around. So that would be a great time to fellowship, share a meal together and honor the Lord. We encourage that. Connection groups. You know, I don't know what to tell you about connection groups, okay? Except it is an uplifting during the middle of the week. And if you're not in one, sign up. And as we work together to make that bond with our brothers and sisters in Christ, And sometimes you get to share what's been going on with you this week. Well, we get to do that every week. But anyway, it draws that bond together. And it's good for the kids, too, to see adults sharing with one another and taking a meal together or a snack or whatever. So we really encourage that. Sign up. And there are some groups going. I'm sure that we'll take some more people as we mix the mix and worship you, the king of all kings. Kingsmen, September 21st, large group meeting, 6 to 8 p.m., dinner included. So we encourage that for the men. Wives don't cook that night. and make sure the guys show up. Okay. Awana's starting. So might check with Tim and Laura Giordano if I'm sure that they have some spots to plug in anybody that's willing to help and encourage and listen to verses as the kids learn God's word and what a neat organization this is and a way of ministering to the community. And you know I heard on I think Thursday night that some of the people have called because of the local shutdowns and everything. There's groups that have shut down totally. And so there's parents calling from out of town saying when do you guys start. We'll be there. So this outreach is more than just our community. So Please pray, plan to participate, and encourage Tim and Laura. Pastors class, walk through the Bible today. They're in 1 Corinthians, and there's room for you. And the offering box is open. If there's any designated giving you want to give, put it on the blue envelope. And we just give God the glory. for the great things he's done and for blessing our church. And now I would like to introduce to you, all right, Penny, I'm only gonna use the last name or the first name. So this is Penny from Caring for Women. We have supported Caring for Women for a couple weeks now, at least, and it is, Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you. What a blessing. It's an honor to be in your church this morning. Thank you, Pastor. I appreciate that. My name is Penny DeRosier. A lot of people don't say my last name and that's quite all right because in the body of Christ. We know each other by name and it really doesn't matter what it is because we're brothers and sisters. If we say sister if we say brother we are acknowledging the body of Christ. As you said I'm from Caring for Women. We are a local pregnancy resource center. How many have heard of Caring for Women? Amen, I love that. I love that so many people know who we are. We are a center that offers free resources. We offer hope, we offer love of Christ to every client that comes in. And it's an important, intricate part in our community that can lead people to Christ that may not come into a church. And by that, what I mean is our church, and I love how the Holy Spirit works, and I'm learning about the different things that you guys do, and the songs that you sing, and the connection groups. Our church also has connection groups, because when we meet during the middle of the week, whether we're having Bible study, we're learning about the different books of the Bible, or whether we're eating a meal together around a table, or whether we're kayaking on the lake. It's that connection of hope and love of Jesus Christ. And that is what our clients are looking for. They're looking for connection. They're looking for a hope. And that's what we're there to give them. I'll give a few statistics. So far to date, we have seen about 150 clients. It's a little low. I could get discouraged by numbers. But you know what, if we can be the best resource center to those 150 people, if we can share the love of Christ to 150 people, that is 150 people that may have never heard the love of God, amen? And so I'm so grateful that if God allows us to see the people that come in, we can be the best resource center that we can be, and it's because of people in churches like yourself that give so sacrificially into an organization like ours. We offer free diapers, formula, wipes. We offer cribs if they need them. But then again, in my opinion, the best thing that we can offer them is Jesus Christ. And that's what we do. So far to date, we have led 14 people. to Jesus Christ, 14 people that now will get to say that heaven is their eternity, amen. All because you guys gave in to an organization that allows us that it doesn't matter what background they come from. And to tell you the truth, I've had people come in and say they're Wiccan, I've had them say atheist, and we just love them right where they're at. And each and every one of those people that might have claimed who they were, God sees them as something else, amen, and we wanna show them through our love that God sees them differently. And every single one of those people that said they might have believed in something else allowed me to pray for them. And the Holy Spirit would move upon them in tears that they didn't know what that is, and that's a seed planted. And that's all part of God's plan and what you guys are providing. Just like John 4, the woman at the well, Jesus offered grace. We wanna offer our clients grace, amen. Matthew 14 says that Peter walks on the water, and when he walked on the water and his eyes was on Jesus, and even when he got his eyes off Jesus, much like even myself or even our clients when they get their eyes off Jesus, you know what? We can share with them that Jesus never left their side, that he reached down and he picked Peter up. And so these are the kind of things that we're able to do. Some of the other things we offer are cooking classes where we can teach them how to budget and meal plan. They get to do these cooking classes and they get to take home the instant pot. after four weeks of learning. We teach them parenting classes. I have an RN interested in coming to help us teaching about each trimester, each month, what's happening with their child, and even so much to go in to talk about postpartum depression. There's not a lot of classes around about postpartum depression, but she wants to be able to share with our clients and give them hope. What? that they're not alone. We all want that same thing to know that we are not alone. That's why we have connection. That's why we have small groups. That's why we meet together and assemble together. And Caring for Women is a resource center that offers those kind of things in a community that people don't even know, still people don't even know that we're there. So I'm grateful for you that people allow us to come in and share so that you can then go out and share. Because what is Christ called us to do? To go out. He's called us to go out and be disciples. And so when I'm able to go out and be a disciple, and then I can share that with somebody else, they can go out and be a disciple. And that's all part about being a community. And one last thing I want to leave with you is in Psalm 139, how Jesus, how God all knit us together. before we were even born, that in the womb, science has proven this over and over again, to be very accurate. Month to month, the developments that happen in a baby being born. The baby in the womb, remember John the Baptist even leapt in the womb when he met Jesus. When Jesus was in the womb, shows us that life is in the womb. is in the womb. And that's what we want to share because so often the world isn't going to tell them the truth about what a baby is in the womb. They're going to be misled. They're going to be misinformed. And that's what we're there is to do is to share them the truth. And so at that time, when everyone that we come in contact with points them to the truth, and that's what we want to do. We want to educate them. We want to offer them hope. We want to give them the love of Christ. And we want to listen to their needs and connect with them right where they're at. Because when you connect with somebody, where they're at, this is where they're going to open up to you and be receptive to the things that you have to share with them. So they think they're coming in for a free pack of diapers, right? I mean, who doesn't? I mean, diapers are expensive. Have you had to buy diapers lately? Or even wipes? They think they're coming in for a pack of diapers and a wipe, but God knows something different. God knows that what they need is the hope of Jesus Christ, and that's why we're there. Amen. And so I just appreciate you all so much. I have one more thing I would like to do. I know it's a little late. I've been planning it for a while and just the opportunity to come in here. But we have our annual Walk for Life and many of you are participating in that through sponsoring, through pledging, through walking. And I'd like to present to your pastor and his wife the plaque that you guys got for being in first place. Woo-hoo! Give yourself a hand. We just want to say that we appreciate you and we love you and we're so thankful for you and thank you. Thank you, Penny, and thank you for all your hard work that you do for caring for women. So as we come to the invocation, if you would stand with me as we read God's word in honor and worship and praise of the King. I love you, Lord, because he heard my cry, my voice and my pleas for mercy, because he inclined his ear to me Therefore, I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompass me. The pains of Sheol lay whole of me. I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord. O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous are God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. And when I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. You may be seated. Let us pray. Father God, creator of the heaven and earth, we cry out to you with pleas of mercy for the weak have been full of snares of the evil one and have encompassed us and distressed and anguish are great within us. We pray for mercy and peace. Father, we've been in the world and we come today to just worship you, the true and only living God. Father, we come wanting to praise and worship you and we thank you that you've delivered our souls as we sing praises to you. We ask that you will walk and pour out your love for Penny and the staff at Caring for Women as they work to save the unborn. May we as a church body support this ministry and pray in prayer and financial and physical needs. Father, we think of Carrie and Richard Nakamura as they work with the Japanese people in the Seattle area. As we partner with them, we pray that you would just give them the strength and the joy to do your work and may our support and prayer and finances be a blessing to them. Father, we pray for the leaders of our community and those that work with our leaders, Father, that you would give them godly wisdom, that they would listen to sound counsel as your word pours forth. Father, we know that you're the one that sets the kings and governors in place, Father. And we just pray that we will respect your wisdom and guidance, and we will pray for mercy for all of them. Father, we just pray for the homebound and the ones that can't be with us, that you would just encourage them, that we would reach out and touch them with a phone call or whatever, Lord, that they would be encouraged. Father, because separation from brothers and sisters is hard. Father, we just lay that before your feet. Lord, touch our hearts as we ponder some of those that haven't been with us. Father, we pray for those that are grieving today. Lord, that you would just uplift their spirit. Father, as life and the loss of life is grieving to us, Lord, and Lord, it's, oh Lord, it burdens our souls. May you uplift it. Father, as we give an offering to you, we pray that it'll be used for your glory and your wisdom. Father, we ask you bless the gift and the giver. We have not ceased to pray for this church, asking that you will fill them with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing much fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened and with all power, according to the glorious might of all the endurance and patience of joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance that we have through Jesus Christ, amen. At this time, our children can be dismissed. And I'm gonna invite you to stand as we continue in our worship. We're thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ as being our shepherd, that he guides us and that he leads us. So let's sing, he leadeth me. He leadeth me. I'm sorry. He leadeth me, O blessed thought, O words with heavenly comfort fraught. What e'er I do, where'er I be, still tis God's hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me, by His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me. Sometimes midst scenes of deepest gloom, Sometimes where Eden's flowers bloom, In waters calm or troubled sea, Still tis His hand that leadeth me. leadeth me. By His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me. Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine, Nor ever murmur nor repine, Content whatever lot I see, Since tis my God that leadeth me. By His own hand He leadeth me His faithful follower I would be For by His hand He leadeth me And when my task on earth is done, When by thy grace the victory won, Leaving death's cold waves, I will not flee, Since God through Jordan leadeth me. He leadeth me by His own hand. He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would be for by His hand He leadeth me. You may be seated. Well, good morning. Are we good? Okay. This is a reminder before we get started, if your phones are still on or not on silent, this would be a good time to turn them off or have them on silent. I'm not sure quite even how to say this, so I'm just going to say it. It's been my It's a privilege and still is my privilege to pray regularly for you and the needs that go on in this church. But this morning, I need you to pray for me. You know, in life's journey, and we're privileged to hear about the sanctity of human life and how life is important. And as we say, from the womb to the tomb. And we value life at each step along the way. And in life's journeys, we meet people along the way who have a very unique impact on us and who become dear. And this morning, I carry a heavy burden because my closest friend in the world is fighting for his life in a hospital in central Virginia. He has been sedated, put under a ventilator with tubes in both lungs as he battles COVID-19 and pneumonia. We're the same age. We met on the mission field. We have spent two decades of life together. We've raised each other's children. We've been in our children's weddings. So I just need you to pray that he would lead with me. And thank you that I can share that burden with you. It's part of what it means to be a community. It's part of what it means to walk with the Lord together. And I don't know what's going to happen to Scott. I know ultimately. But as I continue to pound the doors of heaven, I'm not quite ready to release him. And so I'm asking the Lord to do a miracle. So I invite you to pray with me and for me over this next week. And we know the Lord is still good. And His plan is still good. But that doesn't mean life doesn't take hard turns at times. You know, red lights are put in place for a reason. According to a law firm out of Houston, Texas, as they calculated the cost of running red lights in the United States. Based on statistics from 2016, there were 811 people who were killed in crashes that involved running red lights. That amounts to over two per day. Beyond the cost of human life, the total for all the repairs and damage came to over $390 million. Lives lost, dollars spent, all to save on average less than a minute on the average daily trip. And one can only imagine that those figures have gone up over the past few years as there has been an increased level of anger, of anxiety, of frustration that has come out of just social, political squabbles in our country. But you put on top of that the foolishness of legalizing substances that once were illegal, but now impair judgment as people are out on the road. You know, red lights are put in place for a reason. Just imagine the level of pain and agony and loss that could be avoided from these very avoidable accidents. You know, the law of God acts as a form of red lights for his people. When the constraints and wisdom of the law are followed, there is protection, there is peace, there is blessings. But when they are not followed, there is chaos, confusion, and human suffering. We've certainly seen that that's true in the book of Judges, and certainly in the life of Samson, where we began our study a couple of weeks ago, and where the running of red lights, God's moral red lights, has caused a lot of pain. Well, when we left off with Samson last week, he had just experienced a very great spiritual victory over the Philistines. With only a fresh jawbone in his hand, but with power endued by the Spirit of God, he struck down a thousand men in what must have been a mighty and bloody battle. And as he recovered from the strain of that battle, he calls on God to give him water to drink, and the Lord graciously provides. But the Israelites were still under the heavy load of the Philistines. So would the story of Samson provide any further relief going forward? Would Samson himself begin to show some humility? Would he begin to show some faith? Or would he continue to be led by the passions of his flesh, and that which seems right in his own eyes? Well, Judges 16 will give some of the answers. And we have the privilege, if God should allow it, to go through the entire chapter of Judges 16 this morning. And as we begin, I would just simply ask you to rise in honor of God and His Word as we read the first few verses of this chapter. And the Word of God says, 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 wait till the light of the morning, then we will kill him. Then 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. Fathers, we turn to you this morning. We know that we can turn to you because your faithfulness has been great and is great and will forever be great. And so would you lead us this morning as only you can as we study your word together? And as you have given this word, now would you give its understanding through your spirit as we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. As you follow along in your sermon outline, we arrive to our first main point this morning, which is a dumb dalliance, a dumb dalliance. Chapter 15 ends with Samson judging Israel for 20 years. And there's hope at the end of 15 that perhaps there will finally be a judge in Israel that will be good all the way through. But we find that that hope is short lived. As we saw last week at the end of Chapter 15, they were still living in the days of the Philistines. And so the oppression of the people was continuing and it would continue for a while. Now what we don't know is how long after the end of Chapter 15 the events of Chapter 16 begin. Perhaps there was a season of time because after a great victory against the Philistines, maybe he's not that eager to go back into Philistine territory. But frankly, we don't know how much time has passed between the one and the other. But what we do see is that in the book of Judges, there is danger and failure. As the Israelites have failed at every turn, there is danger that they will continue to turn away from the Lord. But perhaps what we don't see is that there's an even bigger danger in success. Even in their successes, we do not see them moving closer to God. And the fact is that success may prove to be a greater temptation than failure. For it might just be success that pushes us further away from God as we get tempted to trust our own confidence, trust our own strength, trust our own ways rather than the ways of God. And that certainly seems to be the case with Samson. And so at some point in chapter 16, we find Samson once again strolling among the Philistines, going as far as the city of Gaza, which was the capital city of the Philistines. It is found at the southern end of Gaza, and so it's about as far away from Israel and from the tribe of Dan as you could go. He's far away physically from where he should be, and perhaps that's symbolic that he is also as far away spiritually as he can be from his home in Dan and Judah. So we ask the question, why is Samson once again hanging out with the Philistines? Why does he continually show more interest in them than in his fellow Israelites? And Dr. J.I. Packer observes that folly is the opposite of wisdom. Whereas wisdom is knowing how to live properly before God and before men, folly is short-term self-indulgence. Folly marks the person who doesn't think about long-term priorities or goals but lives on a day-to-day basis asking, what is the most fun thing I can do now? And so it serves as a warning to us that though this was written long after the life of Samson, what we find in Proverbs 26 certainly symbolized his life and may it never be said to symbolize ours. Proverbs 26 11 says, like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. And we see Samson again and again repeating his folly. So we're told in the beginning of chapter 16 he goes to Gaza and there he sees a prostitute. Again and again Samson has a problem with his eyes. He is moved by what he sees and what seems right in his eyes rather than what is actually right. Now, while it might appear that this seeing of this prostitute is a random event, this was no slip-up. What is he doing in Gaza? He is not where he should be, and thus he sees what he should not see. And even if he sees her, he can still decide to move past her, but he doesn't. We're told he sees her and he visits her. Samson has a continual problem with women. He was an ancient skirt chaser. He was married to a Philistine woman. who he decided to marry after we were told he saw her and saw that she was right in his eyes. But we saw that that marriage came to an end even when it was still during the celebration period because he could not control his passion and he runs off in a huff, anger about what has happened. Now here he is in Gaza. He sees another woman. He doesn't marry this one. He just hires her for a dalliance, which is a short-term illicit encounter. And once again, this Nazirite violates his vow. This Nazarite, who had been set apart from the womb of his mother by the divine order of God, who was to follow these decrees, violates them again and again. Now, we might ask the question, how do we know that the Gazites, or the men of Gaza, know that he is there? How do they know it's Samson? The fact is, we don't know, but they do set up an ambush, and so his foolishness and lack of self-control, and being where he should not be, puts his life in danger. as they set up an ambush around the house of this prostitute and they wait until the morning. Not making any noise, not wanting to tip off their presence. They want to catch him by surprise. But Samson pulls a surprise on them. He only stays for a short period of time and then he leaves and we're not sure how he gets past the ambush. It doesn't say. Perhaps these men have simply fallen asleep. They're not paying attention to what's going on. We're not sure, but I think as we look at what's going on in the next couple of verses, it does seem as if the Lord is involved here somehow. Because not only does he sneak past the ambush, notice he also sneaks past the city gate. Now in those days, a typical Philistine gate would channel everything towards a tunnel to go through the gate and on each side of the gate there were three rooms of guards who would be watching over the city gate. So that means he would have to pass by six rooms full of guards stationed at the gate whose only job was to protect the gate. But somehow he gets by them. Now the doors of these gates were amazing because in many cases they were two stories high, composed of heavy posts set in firm and heavy hinges. This was not a sneaky thing where you go by and pick up a chain link fence and go on your way. This was a major effort on his part that certainly would have made a lot of noise, and he picks them up and carries them away. He could have just It seems gone through the gate and kept going, but no, he has to make a point. And again, was God doing something here? But yet it's not said to us. He takes the time to steal the gates, to remove them from their foundations, hoisted them up on their shoulders, and starts to walk away. And it was no small stroll. He carried them to a hill that was just before the city of Hebron, which was 40 miles away. Gaza was down by the coastline, so it was low in elevation. Hebron is almost 3,000 feet above sea level. So it is just like your grandfather's story about going to school that was uphill both ways. He did literally have to go uphill from almost sea level to almost 3,000 feet carrying two-story irons on his shoulders and hoisting them onto a hill in front of Hebron. Talk about a trophy. It certainly would have made a statement to the people of Dan. It would have made a statement to the people of Judah. It certainly would have made a statement to the people of Philistia. The Philistines, look who's king of the hill now. But do you notice that this Herculean effort only saves Samson? Not one Israelite has been delivered. Not one has been set free from the oppressor. It's still all about Samson as we've seen throughout the story. Now there is no clear mention of the Lord yet in these verses and yet surely this was a sign of God's power. So once again, even when this Nazarite set apart from God, was not where he was supposed to be, was not doing what he was supposed to do, the Lord continues to show mercy to him by not allowing him to be caught in the ambush, caught by the guards, carrying this massive gate a great distance uphill and posting it on the top. If you recall from this calling of Samson, he was set apart to stir up the situation between the Philistines, who were the oppressors, and the Israelites, who were the oppressed. And so this would have been a display of victory. I mean, look at the top of the hill. What do you see? It certainly would have been a reminder to the Israelites. It would have been a reminder to the Philistines. And they knew they needed to do something because he had humiliated them yet again. And so we get to the second major point, which is Delilah and deceit. And I'm just going to read at this point, verses four to six. Just follow along in your copy of God's Word. I didn't have time to put everything up on the screen this morning. After this, verse four, Judges 16, he loved a woman in the valley of Sorok, 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 bind him to humble him and we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver. So Delilah said to Samson, please tell me where your great strength lies and how you might be bound that one could subdue you. So there's been a victory in Gaza and now another woman comes into the story and the story of Samson revolves around the different women that he meets. It begins with his unnamed mother who is visited by the angel of the Lord and promised a son. It continues with his first wife who is unnamed but who is burned to death after a great victory by Samson because this had humiliated the family of this woman. Then we have this woman of the night who's also unnamed, but she only serves Samson's selfish purposes. And now we have this fourth woman. Once again, Samson seems to be attracted only to foreign women. Not once in this story are we told that he ever is attracted to an Israelite woman. Surely he knew the law at least enough to know that the Israelites were to marry within themselves, within their tribes. Surely this would have included the Nazarites as he was set apart from the womb of his mother. Surely he would recall that he had been set apart to begin to save Israel as we saw in Judges 13. But it seems rather than him continuing to want to pursue and initiate Interaction and fighting with the Philistines, he seems more interested only in running after their women. But this time, the woman is given a name. Her name is Delilah, and this becomes the longest individual story in the life of Samson. He meets her in the Valley of Sorek, which would have ran from the hills in the country of Dan the tribe of Dan, the tribe of Judah, gone down through the valley, through the coast, down to Philistia. So by placing this gate on the hill above the valley, he is showing his victory over the Philistines. When he got into trouble, all he would have had to do was look up on the hill, see those gates, and say, God has delivered me, perhaps I shouldn't continue with my peccadilloes. But he doesn't. Time and again, he is mastered by his passions, especially concerning women. He should have stayed closer to Hebron, both spiritually and emotionally. Instead, his heart continually wanders to that which is foreign and forbidden. And thus we begin this story between Samson and this Philistine woman. So first we see the bribe in verses four and five. Now there is a play on words with the name Delilah. Delilah has a similar root to the Hebrew word, which means knight, Leila, or Leila, if you put the proper accenting. Her name is mentioned seven times in the text. This will add to the drama. So this woman whose name is somehow associated with the knight, with the darkness will become the nightfall, so to speak, or the downfall of Samson. Time and time again, this woman will tempt Samson during the night, and we find that this man who was strong enough to carry the gates of a city uphill 40 miles is not strong enough to withstand the wily charms of a woman. Delilah herself becomes a type of a woman of the night. who will bring down the one who was to set Israel free. But there's a difference here than what we see in the other stories and that is we are told that Samson loved her. He has shown interest in other women but here is the only time it says that he has loved this one. But what's interesting is the one that he has said to love is never referred to as his wife. only as a sort of mistress. And as we see, the two parties seem more interested in what they can get than in what they can give in this situation. So the lords of the Philistines, now they come to her, the rulers. Now the interesting thing is the word for lords here is not at all associated with the divine name of God. It is a unique word to the Philistines that just simply talks about their leaders. And they come to Delilah and they make her a generous offer. Find out what is the secret of this man's strength and we will make you rich. They've already seen Samson make one mighty act after another, but they can't figure out what his secret is. It's not obvious to them. Which leads me to think maybe we need to rethink the caricatures that we have of Samson in Sunday school. I mean, if he was some type of Herculean figure, Superman, with bulging biceps and muscles that have muscles, would they ask this question? What is the secret of his strength? Would they pay attention to a man who just looks like a normal man? No, let me put it the other way. Would they pay attention to a man and ask what his strength is if he looks like he's a professional wrestler? But here he seems to perform these strengths and they cannot figure out why. But in any case, they seek the secret of his power and they're willing to pony up. And so they offer 1,100 pieces of silver each. Now there were five rulers. So you can do the math, 5,500 pieces of silver. And Delilah, the woman whose name means knight, agrees to the price. She will offer her services for a fee. So 5,500 pieces of silver. That sounds like a lot today. It surely is. And it surely was a lot then because it was equal to the annual salary of 550 men. So for one task, they are offering her the yearly salary of 550 men. I think that got her attention. And that also tells us that there is a price, perhaps, on the life of every man. Would this woman be more faithful to Samson? Would she be more faithful to her people? Or would she be more faithful to her money? Which brings us to the second major point here, the bantering. And there, if you will indulge me, I'm going to just read now from chapter six down to verse 17. Just listen to the story as if you're hearing it for the first time. and let your imagination run wild with the humor, the irony, even the silliness that is involved in this story. So Delilah said to Samson, please tell me where your great strength lies and how you might be bound that one could subdue you. Samson said to her, if they bind me with seven fresh bow strings that have not been dried, then I should become weak and be like any other man. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bow strings that had not been dried, 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. But he snapped the bow strings as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. Then Delilah said to Samson, behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound. 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. So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And the men lying in ambush were in the inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off of his arms like a thread. 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 with the web and fasten it tight with a pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man. So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin the loom and the web. And she said to him, 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 said to her, a razor has never come upon my head. For I've 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. If Hollywood comes up with a story like this, we would say, boy, are you pushing the limits. The four cycles of attempts by Delilah to get Samson to talk. These two lovers, as it were, are playing a game of tease, neither one having pure motives, neither one wanting to concede anything. And Delilah, for her part, shows she's a lot like Samson. They're both drawn to greed, to control, the power of temptation. They're very similar in character, even if they show it in different ways. And so we have these four rounds, and the first attempt is straightforward. It repeats almost word for word the words that she had received from the Philistine lords. Tell me the secret of your strength and how one might bind you and subdue you. But Samson just teases her. He says something to her that is not true. Bind me with fresh bow strings that are not dried out and I will be controlled. Now what's interesting here is the word is literally sinews and could refer to tendons or other connective tissues of an animal. Now by now it should already be going off in our mind something is wrong with this picture. Just like the jawbone, with the sinews, with the bowstrings, there would be a dead animal involved. Those bowstrings would come from a dead animal and thus would be forbidden to the Nazirite to touch, who is not allowed to touch anything that was unclean. Once again, as he's bantering around with Delilah, he violates the conditions of his Nazirite vow. Bind me with these bowstrings and I will be under control. just like any other man. And that phrase becomes key as the story builds. So there's a game of chase going on, and Samson is not afraid to play with danger. There's trickery on both parts. Samson plays coy with the answer, just as she plays coy with her response. Well, what is it that would keep you bound and we could get you by surprise, knowing that she's already arranged for men to be in the inner chamber? There's just intrigue and drama going on here. The Philistines are upon you, she cries out, and to her great surprise, he arises and snaps all the bowstrings like, we are told, a thread of flax over the fire. The first attempt fails. The secret is kept secure. We get to round two. Delilah is accusing Samson of mocking her. You lied to me, so tell me how you can be bound. He changes the answer, but he doesn't change his tune. Just get some new ropes. Then I'll become like any other man. So she takes some ropes and binds him up. Now, she's not aware of what we are. And that is, this has already been tried before. And it didn't work. And that's part of the humor that would come through this story. The original hearers would hear it. And this was intended to mock the Philistines. And they would say, doesn't she know that this has already been tried? And the answer is no. And once again, the men are lying in ambush. How thick is this man's skull? And we see deceiving words and deceiving acts. But once again, Samson snaps the ropes off like a thread. The second attempt fails. The secret is secure. There's mind and heart games going on. It seems that Samson is drawn to danger. He's drawn to risk. He's already done it several times in his life. And in this intrigue and tension with Delilah, Cat and mouse going on between the two of them. I don't know, I read through this story, I get further and further into the details and I say, well who says the Bible's boring? This is a Middle Eastern soap opera that's taking place in living color. We get to round three, where there's a similar refrain. You have mocked me and you've lied to me. Now, she's accusing Samson of mocking her and lying to her, But she never gets around to mentioning it. She's doing exactly the same thing. There's not an innocent person in this party. There's just a power for control that's going on. And so he teases her again about the secret of his strength. But this time he's moving dangerously close to the actual answer because he begins to talk about his hair. I have seven locks of hair on my head. And if they're woven into a web and pinned, I will be like any other man. Now the situation's becoming comical. Because the word here would refer to a horizontal loom, where thread is tied together, and four stakes are put in the ground, and the thread is weaved around the four stakes, and then held in place with a pin. And so we have four stakes, seven locks of hair, and a pin. And once you pin the fabric in place with the loom, it is now ready for making clothes and other things, but it can't move. So how is it then that Samson arrives of lying down, she's able to wheel this loom in, pin it to the ground, start weaving his hair together, put a pin in it, and all the while he's asleep. And he makes reference again to becoming like any other man. Is he just growing tired of being extraordinary? I don't know. But it's interesting that he keeps repeating this phrase. So once again she cries out, the Philistines are upon you. And he wakes, no effort, rips it out of the ground, separates everything that is free. And now it really is just becoming comical. Because she's really upset and he is smug. He's escaped three times. She's upset because not only has he mocked her three times, but now it seems like he's ruined her sewing machine. And so now she's really going to be upset. The third attempt fails. The secret is still secure. But then we get to the fourth round. And here Delilah is going to turn on the waterworks and pull at the heart. You don't love me. Your heart is not with me. She's making a play for his heart, not just for his strength. She wants to know where his strength comes from. So she presses him and she says, unless you trust me, You can't trust me if you hold back that which is most important to you. And this will begin to affect Samson because we're told that he does love her. But this goes on for a number of days. She's just bantering him and trying to find out, and we're finding out that Samson, as strong as he is, is just not good with, some people say, the fairer sex. And so what he does is, once again, he tells the secret. We saw this in the struggle with his first wife. Eventually, he gives the secret when she turned on her emotions. And he does it again with Delilah. He tells the secret of his soul. But he'd had enough. We're told that his soul was vexed to death. And so we think about what Samson has shown so far. He's not shown respect for his calling. He has not shown respect for his parents. He has not shown respect for women. He's not shown respect for his people. It's always been about Samson all the time. But for the first time, we see Samson starting perhaps to buckle a little under the pressure. And he bears his soul. He bears his heart. He shares that which is the most important to him, the most important information, with this foreign woman, and for the first time, he talks about the Nazirite vow, and he talks about his hair. He said, I have been a Nazirite to God from birth, and now we learn that at times he did pay attention to what his parents were telling him. that he did have an understanding of who he was, which makes it all the more tragic that all along he knew he was a Nazirite from the womb of his mother, set apart for God, was to live a holy life, touch nothing unclean, and never shave his head. But he didn't care. Time and again, he violates his calling. He violates his position. And that gets me thinking about myself, thinking about us. I hope that'll never be said of us. We've been called of God. We've been set apart for his purpose. He's put his name on us. He's given us his name. We've been made for his glory. May it never be said of us that we scorn our calling. But finally, he shares the secret. And he says, if my head is shaved, I will be like any other man. Finally, when his head is shaved, it will be the final sign that he is no longer involved with God in any way and that God will leave him and he will become like any other man. Now, Delilah is a deceiver and she has been deceived, but she can tell in this case he is telling the truth. And after she's been embarrassed three times with her countrymen, She pleads with them to come back, and if you noticed in the text, they do come back, and they come back with their money. Don't forget the money. And somehow, she makes him fall asleep again on her lap. The only thing I can say is that he's as strong as an ox and as dumb as one as well. You know, there are certain people that we say they're just all brawn and no brains. But it's going to get him in trouble, and it does. His arrogance, his presumption upon the grace of God will get him in trouble. And though he has presumed upon the grace of God and has been delivered many times, it has finally come to an end, or it will very soon. So we see the bribe, the bantering, and now we have the barber. When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, come up again, for he has told me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees, and she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as any other time 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 brown shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. But the hair of his head began to grow again after he'd been shaved. So we see the story. Calls a barber. The seven locks are cut off. She begins to torture him, which probably means she's just pushing and trying to awaken him, knowing that her payday is coming, her mission has been accomplished. And you know what? She somehow disappears from the story at this point. So the one who is called Delilah of the night, seemingly slinks off into the night with her money, while Samson goes off into his slavery, caused by his own sin and arrogance. The Philistines are upon you, Samson. He wakes up and thinks, well, here we go again. And this time, he can't set himself free. He had told her what would happen if he had his hair cut, and he still falls asleep on her lap. And though he tries to extricate himself from the situation like he did every other time, he cannot, and the painful realization comes to him, the Lord has left me. Now up to this point there has been a general link between the Spirit's power and Samson's power. Why Samson was able to do what he was able to do. But now it's very clear he was strong because the Lord made him strong. And now to his horror he realizes I don't have the Lord's strength which means I don't have any strength at all. Left to himself, he could not save himself. He who had been raised up to begin to save Israel could no longer save himself. And those are lessons that we all need to learn today. Whatever strength we have is from the Lord. And we cannot save ourselves. We are completely dependent upon him to save us. The Lord stood with Samson. until he threw away the last remnant of his Nazirite vow, the cutting of his hair. God had shown him mercy again and again with all the different activities he was involved in. But when he finally threw off all the guardrails and guidelines, raising a high hand as it were to God, the Lord had left him. And now he has become like every other man and doesn't like it. They seize him. They pluck out his eyes. He's no longer able to see. the very sense that had gotten him into trouble many times. He always did what was right in his eyes, but now he cannot see, and do we not hear an echo in the background of Jesus saying, if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. For it is better to enter the kingdom of heaven blind than to go off in destruction with fully working eyes. They shackle him, they put him to work in a mill. He who was a chosen child, a set-apart servant of the Lord, has gone from this high calling to the lowest of professions, grinding grain like a slave. His pride and his presumption turned out to be costly. And think of how far he has fallen. He who had been led by his eyes now he cannot see. He who had done as he pleased now is in prison. He who had humiliated others is now himself humiliated. He who had been blessed of God is now a lowly prisoner. He who had been a Nazarite set apart for a high calling is now reduced to the level of an animal. He has become the symbol of Israel herself. Because as we read through the prophets after this we see that Israel had become blind. She'd been drawn to foreign gods and to foreign women. She does what's right in her own eyes. And in her own eventual judgment, she will be seized by her enemies, blinded spiritually, brought into exile and imprisoned and humiliated. So the lesson here, my friends, is let us not presume upon the grace of God, but be so grateful that he lavishly bestows it upon us. And yet, and yet in the darkest of the times when Delilah has performed her deeds in darkness and now is left, hope comes. And it comes in a strange way. For in verse 22, we are told that the hair of his head began to grow back. And that's an indication that the Lord is not done. The Lord is still going to work. My friends, even when all seems lost, the Lord gives a sign of hope because it was God who had said that Samson would be a Nazarite from the from the womb of his mother to the day of his death. And he will remain faithful to his calling, even if Samson does not. And so my friends, even in the darkness, God can bring the sign of light. Even if it seems, if you'll pardon the pun, life may seem a little bald at times, God can cause the hair to start to grow back. Why y'all looking at me? But lastly, we get to Dagon and the downfall. Dagon and the downfall. Let's begin with the Philistines celebrate. 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. 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, 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. And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, let me feel the pillars on which the house rests that I may lean against them. Now 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. And now the battle is on between the followers of Dagon and Yahweh and his servant. Will God show up? You know, the story takes on more colour when we realize that Dagon is the God of the harvest for the Philistines. And now, their enemy is the one grinding grain. This shows, at least for the Philistines, they think this means that their God is superior. Where is God? Is He going to show up? But notice the Philistines give credit to their God in their victory. They praise Him. It's ironic that these pagans do what is right in giving praise to their God, at least showing Samson what he should have done when he had his victories. But the Israelites failed to drive out their enemies. At least the Philistines recognize that there's a power greater than themselves. But they put all of the credit on themselves, on their God, and they do not realize that it was the Lord who had brought this about. Verse 20. But he did not know that the Lord had left him. So they bring Samson out, he's forced to dance, he's forced to entertain. They mock and they laugh. In fact, he's been brought so low, the ESV translates it as young man. A better translation is a youth, actually leads him around the temple. He who was strong and independent now is reduced to being led by the hand of one far younger and smaller than he. But he says, lead me that I may put my hands on the pillars of the temple. In those days, as they would put the temples up, they would have large stones on top of these pillars, and that was what would support the rest of the building. They had a unique building style, and these pillars would become critical. to understanding the rest of the story. It was full of men and women inside and on the roof. They're celebrating their victory over the Israelites, but their shouts of victory will quickly turn to shouts of a very different nature as the Philistines are destroyed. Then Samson called to the Lord and said, O Lord God, please remember me. Please strengthen me only this once, 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. And he bowed with all of his strength, and the house fell upon the Lord and upon all 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 and his brothers. And all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtoel in the tomb of Manoah, his father. He had judged Israel 20 years. Being led by this young man, this youth, he puts his hands on the pillar and for only the second time that we can find in the life of Samson, he prays. Perhaps he prayed other times, but it's only the second time in Judges that it is mentioned. And in both cases, it is not a prayer that pleads to God to show His glory, but it is a desire for self-glory. Now, it starts out well. He says in the ESV, translates it as sovereign God. Which is a better way of translating it. Adonai Yahweh. we could translate it as Lord, Lord. So far so good. Sovereign God, remember me. This is covenant language. It's not a saying as if God somehow in whom all knowledge is contained can suddenly forget something. No, it's I call attention to the fact that you've made a promise, you've made a covenant with me, remember. And then he says, revenge me just this once. He's not showing much dependence on God to this point. Is there a sign that humility is coming? If we were to stop right here, we might say yes, but we can't. And it's hard for us to say that he really did humble himself because he seems only worried about himself. He doesn't pray for deliverance of Israel. He doesn't pray for their oppressors to be thrown off. He doesn't pray for God's name to be vindicated or God's name to be glorified. He, Samson, has shamed God's name. He doesn't pray for God's name to be glorified. No, he prays for himself and he says, just this one time, one time, two eyes. He doesn't ask to revenge or avenge the loss of a nation or the humiliation of the people. It's still about Samson till the end. He puts his hands on the pillars and leans into them. And by now we know it's not just his might, but this is clearly the might of the Lord. But I have a question because in verse 22 it says his hair began to grow back. He had already told them the secret of his power. They'd cut off his hair. They saw that he was weak. Why did they keep shaving him? People have questions. I don't know. But God's in control of the story in every detail. So he says, Let me die with the Philistines. He pushes with all of his might until the columns pop out and they collapse. But there's tragedy even in this final declaration. He really wanted to live with the Philistines. He showed it all his life. Now he will die with them. And the whole building comes down and all perish, including Samson. We were told clearly in the text, he killed more in his death than he did in his life. Is it possible that he was worth more dead than alive? It's not seen as a compliment. It's seen more as a tragedy, what could have been. And yet God keeps showing up again and again with acts of grace and signs of deliverance and signs of hope. And in this deliverance that God brings about, Yahweh defeats Dagon and his forces. The spirit of Yahweh empowers Samson to overcome the most powerful of the Philistines because you'll see that all of their leaders were there. And then, almost as a throwaway line in verse 31, God shows mercy again. Samson didn't deserve it, but he received mercy from God and delivered gave a greater deliverance for Israel. They were still under the tyranny of the Philistines, but gave a greater deliverance in this case. But then do you notice that his family also showed mercy to him? He had rejected them in his life, but they accepted him in his death. And they came and got him and brought him back and buried him in the family tomb, the tomb of his father. And we see that it comes full circle. that God our Father stays with us even when we disobey, even when we shame Him, always stays with us so that His name will be glorified. Now some may ask the question, when we look at Samson's life, how do we evaluate it? I think in many ways we would say it's a waste. Yes, God did use him for many things, but there was so much more that could have been done, but then what do we do where there seems to be these parallels with him and Jesus? He's called of God, announced by an angel, a great birth. He's to be an agent of salvation for Israel. And those are the similarities that would be fulfilled in greater measure in Christ one day. But there are far greater differences between Samson and Christ. Samson could only be but a shadow because he was not Christ-like in his own life. He was selfish, narcissistic, vengeful, lustful, hateful. Whereas Jesus, was humble and pure and holy and God-focused and faithful. Jesus brought a deliverance that was eternal and full. And so the deliverances far outweigh the similarities. He's a foil for Christ, pointing us to Christ, showing us the need for Christ. But then we could take it one step further and say, we need to learn from this example, both in the good things we see and the bad things we see. Because we could be those who would resist the call of God in our lives, resist His commands, fall into foolish decisions because it's right in our eyes and not right in His. We who have been called to be saints, who are born of God, who have been set apart for lifelong service for Him and His kingdom. But we're now in Christ, who wants to empower us and continually redeem us. And so, where Samson ran after his lusts, we're called to crucify the deeds of the flesh. Where Samson lived in impurity, we are called to be holy and live in purity. Samson thought only of himself, but we are to follow the example of Jesus and think of others above ourselves. Samson used his talents and strengths for his own purposes. The Christian is to use All that he has been given from God for his kingdom purposes, Samson lived for his glory. We live for the glory of God. And over the past number of weeks, we have looked at these different characters in Judges. We have seen Gideon, Abimelech, Jephthah, Samson. And we might be tempted to ask, well, how can God use men that are so morally flawed? How can they be called heroes in the faith when we get to Hebrews chapter 11, when they were so weak in their character? And I think we gain great insight, and I'm borrowing here from the example that Dr. Tim Keller gives us when he says we need to understand the difference between the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. Time and again in the Old Testament and even in the New, God will give the power of the Spirit or the gifts of the Spirit for the accomplishment of great things. While the fruit of the Spirit is what builds us into becoming more like Christ. The fruit of the Spirit develops godly character. The power of the Spirit is to accomplish godly purposes. Ideally, and for those of us on this side of the cross and the new covenant, they both work together and should both be seen. But the gifts are for doing, the fruit is for being, and that's why when we look in Hebrews 11 and it says, these men are heroes of the faith, it focuses on what they did, tearing down kingdoms and breaking open secrets and all kinds of things. So yes, we have great faith that God can do great things, but we today who are led by the Spirit of God are not to separate the doing for God and the being and becoming more like God. And so what are some ways? We're gonna get into some very difficult parts of Judges now moving forward. But as we've looked at these characters, particularly of Samson, what are some lessons we can learn very quickly before we go to our final song? First is watch over the way you walk. Rare is it that we just stumble into sin. Usually there have been steps that bring us to the point of sin, and we need to stop before we get to that point. If indeed we're to learn from Samson, then we need to ask God to give us eyes to see what is good and right in His eyes so that we would make good decisions thereby. Then we need to put to death the deeds of the flesh and live for God in our bodies. Our bodies are the temple of God the Holy Spirit. He wants to dwell in us. in a pure, clean temple, and so we need to put to death the deeds of our flesh, live for God moment by moment, and in doing so then we will put the good of others above ourselves. Because ultimately recognize we're living for a greater cause than ourselves. And then we recognize, in foolishness and in wisdom, from beginning to end, life and death are in his hands. Therefore, don't waste your life in foolish things. Life is but a vapor and can come to an end very quickly. Use wisely the time that you have while you have it for the purposes of God. Let's pray. We turn to you, O God, because you are holy. We turn to you, O God, because we are needy. And we turn to you, oh God, because you alone can bridge the gap between your goodness and our need. And we thank you for Christ. Far greater than any Samson could be, our deliverer, our strength, our representative, our hero, our deliverer. And it's to him we turn and say thank you. for the forgiveness you have given us. Thank you for the eternal life that is ours. Thank you for the indwelling spirit to live for you. And so this week, we ask your strengthening to go out and live for you in this sin sick world that we would live as the light of the world, as those redeemed, by a great Savior, even our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen. Would you stand with us as we sing, He Will Hold Me Fast? When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast. I could never keep my hope through life's fearful past. For my love is often cold He must hold me fast He will hold me fast He will hold me fast For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast Those He saves are His delight Christ will hold me fast Precious in His holy sight He will hold me fast He'll not let my soul be lost His promises shall last Bought by Him at such a cost He will hold me fast He will hold me fast He will hold me fast For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast For my life He bled and died Christ will hold me fast Justice has been satisfied He will hold me fast Raised with Him to endless life He will hold me fast Till our faith is turned to sight When He comes at last He will hold me fast He will hold me fast For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so. and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Have a wonderful Lord's Day.