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Judges 16:4-31

Samson’s Revival

  • Rich Jones
  • Weekend Messages
  • March 07, 2021

The lesson of Samson’s life for the believer today is straightforward, don’t mess around with your being set apart. Don’t be like everyone else. That’s what it means to be set apart — but be set apart for God.

But let me also say that if you have failure in your past, if you have sins and disappointments, it doesn’t have to be the end of the story. Your past doesn’t have to define your future.

  • Sermon Notes
  • Transcription
  • Scripture

Samson’s Revival
Judges 16:4-31
March 6-7, 2020

Samson is most famous for his strength, but the greatest lessons in his life come from his failures. The greatest lesson, however, comes from chapter 16; your past doesn’t have to define your future.

Perhaps up to this point your life has been a series of failures, mistakes, or of sins and disappointments. But the final chapter has not yet been written. Your past doesn’t have to define your future. Before God can redefine your future, however, He must bring you to the end of yourself. God wants you to come to the end of self-sufficiency.

In John 15, Jesus spoke a deep truth, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” The problem is that verse is easy to read and easy to say, but it’s a whole different thing to live that way.

When you consider the story of Samson’s life and read of his epic failures, it could lead one to wonder how this man ever made it into Hebrews 11, that famous chapter that lists the great heroes of faith.

This much is certain, Samson didn’t make it into Hebrews 11 because of his failures, he made it into that chapter because his failures didn’t define his life.

Samson began well; he had everything going for him at the first. God called him and set him apart for His purpose even while he was in the womb.

His mother was barren, but the angel of the Lord met her and said, “Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

The Nazirite vow is found in Numbers chapter 6. It is a special vow of dedication to the Lord. It’s the vow of being set apart, of being dedicated to God and His purpose.

When a man or woman takes this vow of the Nazir, they are to separate themselves unto the Lord. During the time of their dedication, they are to abstain from wine, and strong drink, and anything to do with grapes. They must keep themselves separate from anything that is dead, and they must not cut their hair.

No razor coming upon his head would be the secret to Samson’s uniqueness. He would have the strength of many men. If he lived in our modern age, he would be a celebrity; a man’s man in every way; and the desire of women.

But God set him apart for His purpose; a unique calling, a divine assignment; he would begin to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines.

I imagine his mother explaining to Samson when he was young; how she was barren, how the angel of the Lord met her and promised that her son that would begin to deliver Israel, that he would be set apart, dedicated for a divine purpose and that even while he was in the womb, she lived set apart for God.

In our modern, New Testament times, we don’t have such a thing as a Nazirite vow, but we do have people that are set apart unto God. It’s you; you are a set apart people. That’s what it means to be sanctified in Christ Jesus.

And if you have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, you have been set apart for a unique purpose and a unique calling on your life.

We have a saying, “Where God guides, He provides.” It means that when God sets you apart for His purpose, He will equip you and sustain you in that purpose.

In the case of Samson, it meant the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him mightily so that he had the strength and power to accomplish that purpose. He had power against his enemies because the Spirit of God came upon him.

I suggest that when you live sanctified, or in other words, set apart, and you walk in the purpose for which God called you, the same Holy Spirit that came upon Samson resides in you and will equip you for God’s purpose and calling.

However, if you are not set apart, if you lose your set apart-ness, in other words, if there’s no difference, you live just like everyone else in the world, I suggest you will not have the Holy Spirit power to accomplish God’s purpose in your life.

The lesson of Samson’s life for the believer today is straightforward, don’t mess around with your being set apart. Don’t be like everyone else. That’s what it means to be set apart — but be set apart for God.

But let me also say that if you have failure in your past, if you have sins and disappointments, it doesn’t have to be the end of the story. Your past doesn’t have to define your future.

I. Sin Makes Life Hard

  • Verse 4 — Samson loved a woman in the valley of Sorek. The name “Sorek” means “a choice vine.” In other words, it’s in the center of wine country where a Nazirite has no business going. And there he meets Delilah. He can defeat 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey but is defeated by one woman from Sorek.
  • In other words, he’s messing with his vow; he’s flirting with danger, he’s seeing how close he can come to the edge.
  • There are some places a Christian should not go. God says you are sanctified, you are set apart. Be different. In the camp of the enemy are those who will discourage your faith and encourage your flesh.
  • Simpson’s failure is a classic example of the consequences of sin.

A. Sin will blind you

  • Samson’s sin cost him dearly. Ultimately, when he was defeated, they put out his eyes — he became physically blind.
  • I submit he was already blind. And in fact, I am convinced that he saw more after he lost his eyes than when he could see.
  • Verse 6 — Delilah entices him and says, “Tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound.” Now I may not be a rocket scientist, but it occurs to me that this could be a tipoff that something’s wrong in this relationship.
  • It’s clear from Samson’s response that he is spiritually blind. He thinks he’s in control of the whole situation, but he’s weaker than he thinks.

Illus – It’s like raising a pet tiger. You think this thing’s under control until it turns on you and destroy your life.

  • Sin has a way of clouding the thinking; of making a man stupid. We know this, because later, when they come to their senses, people ask that very question. “How could I have been so stupid?”

Illus – In Luke 15, the prodigal son demanded his inheritance early so that he could spend it on worldly living. But then, when he came to the end of his money, and had to take a job feeding pigs — he came to his senses.

Luke 15:17, “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger.”

  • Proverbs 7 is given to open the eyes of the heart.

Proverbs 7:21-23, With her many persuasions she entices him; with her flattering lips she seduces him. Suddenly he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool… he does not know that it will cost him his life.

  • There are many warning signs for Samson, but he blows through them all.
  • Three times she tries to bind him so she can hurt him. On the third time he’s starting to wear down. You can see that he’s getting close because he’s telling her about his hair.

Proverbs 6:27-28, Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?

  • Finally, she pulled out the “You don’t love me” card. “How can I believe you when you say you love me when every time I try to tie you up to hurt you, you lie? Do you know how much that hurts?” She’s workin’ it now.
  • The Scripture tells us that she pressed him daily with her words so that his soul was annoyed to death. In other words, she nagged him until he couldn’t take it anymore!

App –There’s an old saying, “It’s not the mountains ahead that wear you down, it’s the pebble in your shoe.”

  • Delilah is using deception to defeat him. That’s a great picture of sin. It lies; and lies will wear you down. You cannot conquer any mountains until you get rid of the pebble in your shoe; the lies about you that Satan wants you to believe.

John 8:31-32, So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word…then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

B. Sin will bind you

  • Finally, when Delilah wore Samson down, he told her his heart, so she put him to sleep and had the locks of his hair cut off. Immediately, they bound him with bronze chains and put his eyes out.
  • The power was not in his hair, it was in the Spirit of the Lord coming upon them. But the power was represented by his hair because his hair was the symbol of his vow.
  • When he lost his hair, he was no longer functioning in his dedication and he was no longer walking in the power of God.
  • So, not only was Samson blinded by sin he was enslaved by it.
  • Paul wrote a powerful statement, “I will not be mastered by anything.”

1 Corinthians 6:12-13, All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything… the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.

  • Sin binds and becomes the master. It keeps pulling, and pulling, and pulling, and you can’t say no.
  • This is what Jesus meant when he said in Luke chapter 4…

Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed.”

C. Sin will make life a grind

  • After the Philistines bound Samson with bronze chains and put out his eyes, they took him to the city of Gaza where they made him a grinder in the prison.
  • It’s no secret that at first sin is quite pleasant. After all, as the Scripture says, stolen water is sweet.

Proverbs 9:17-18, “Stolen water is sweet; and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

  •  God doesn’t need make a law that says, “Thou shalt not hit thy thumb with a hammer” because the immediate pain of it is warning enough. But he does need to tell us about the consequences of sin because at first it seems so pleasant, and then life gets harder.

Proverbs 13:15, Good understanding produces favor, but the way of the transgressor is hard.

  • But God uses that trouble, that difficulty that sin brings to get your heart to awaken.

Psalm 119:67, 71, 75, Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep Your word… It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes… I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

II. God’s Not Finished with You Yet

Illus – In many sports there’s a halftime, it’s a time to reassess. Many teams that were ahead at halftime, lost. Many teams that were losing, came back to win. They turned things around. You don’t know how the game’s going to turn out until it ends. Some teams even came back to win at the last minute.

  • Verse 22 — “The hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.”
  • What he lost, he lost because of sin. You can only regain what you lost because of sin by repentance and revival.
  • Something begins to stir in Samson, we’ll see that in a moment when he prays.

A. God loves a broken and contrite heart

  • In Samson’s messed up, broken life, while he was grinding in the prison, he remembers his dedication. He remembers the calling God put on his life from his mother’s womb.
  • Grinding there in the prison, what is it he wants? “Give me my hair back.”
  • If you’re not walking in God’s purpose in your life, if life has become a grind, do you have the same prayer? “I want my life back, I want my peace back, give me my joy back, give me my victory back.”
  • Here’s the beautiful thing about God, He wants you back. Start with that. God is the God of the second chance. His mercies are new every morning.
  • But the essential question which remains is this; is the brokenness genuine?

Psalm 51:16-17, For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

  • When you come to God in genuine repentance and confess your sin before him, He is faithful and just to forgive us. Forgiveness happens immediately.
  • But restoration is a process of healing.

Illus – If you did something dumb, crashed your skateboard, woke up in the hospital, and then called out to God to forgive, forgiveness will be yours immediately. But healing takes time.

  • For Samson, it would be the transformation of his heart to come back to God. Grinding in the prison, he had a lot of time to think. He remembered his vow, he remembered his commitment, his being set apart for God’s purpose and he calls on God and says, “Remember me and please give strength to me just this one more time, God.”
    Verse 28 – Samson’s genuine prayer is beautiful in Hebrew, “O Adonai Yahweh, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O Elohim.”

B. Let God define your future

  • The failures of Samson’s past did not define his future; God would write the final chapter.
  • Failure was not the final word. The final word is grace, the final word is restoration, the final word is healing of his heart.
  • In that final prayer, Samson was saying, “God, let this be my finest hour. When I close my eyes in death, let it be the greatest victory of my life.”
  • It’s not too late. Samson did more in those final moments than he accomplished in all the years of his life. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Don’t run away, let God write the final chapter.

Hebrews 11:32, And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak… and Samson…

Samson’s Revival
Judges 16:4-31
March 6-7, 2020

All right. Samson is perhaps the most famous of all the so-called judges. They were really deliverers of Israel. Remember what was happening? Israel would turn their back on God. They would go out to the gods of the world. What would follow is predictable, trouble upon trouble. Weak as a nation, then their enemies would arise. In this case, the Philistines are oppressing them. They call out to God, he sends a deliverer. Samson is perhaps the most famous of all of them. He's famous, of course, for his phenomenal physical strength.

I think that the greatest lessons in Samson's life actually come from his failures. Perhaps, the greatest lesson, we're going to see in Chapter 16, which is that your past doesn't have to define your future. That is such a powerful application, because there are people right today, when they look at their lives, there have been a series of failures or mistakes or sins or disappointments, but here's a lesson out of this story. The final chapter has not been written yet. God is not done yet. The final chapter has not been written. Your past does not have to define your future, but before God redefines your future, and this is part of the story that comes to us out of the Book of of Judges here, the life of Samson, you've got to come to the end of yourself.

You've got to come to the end of self-sufficiency, because that's what got so many people into trouble. Jesus gives a deep word in John 15, where he says, "Without me, you can do nothing." That's easier to read and easier to say, but it's a whole different thing to live that way. "Without me, you can do nothing," because that's really self-sufficiency. But with me, but with God in your life, you can do all that God has given as a purpose for you to accomplish. When you consider the story of Samson's life and you consider his epic failures, because his failures are epic, it could lead one to wonder, how could this man make it into Hebrews Chapter 11?

You might know, Hebrews 11 is a famous chapter in the Book of Hebrews describing heroes of faith. Well, how did he ever get into Hebrews Chapter 11 with all these epic failures? This much is certain, Samson did not make it into Hebrews 11 because of his failures. He made it into that chapter because his failures didn't define his life. We remember the story from last week, we looked at it. Samson began well. He had everything going for him at the first. God had called him, set him apart for his purpose even while he's in his mother's room. You remember the story.

His mother was barren. In that day, this is a great tragedy, but the angel of the Lord met her and told her that, behold, she would have a son, and that he would be a Nazir or a Nazirite unto the Lord from birth, and he would begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. The Nazir, the vower, the Nazirite, we looked at this last week. It's out of Numbers Chapter six. It's a special vow of dedication. It's a vow of being set apart, of being dedicated to the Lord for the Lord's purpose in your life. When a man or woman takes his vow of the Nazir or the Nazirite, they are to separate themselves under the Lord.

During this time of their dedication, they are to abstain from wine and a strong drink or anything to do with grapes, even raisins. The idea is that they would separate themselves from the finest things of the world so as to have the finest things of God, to be dedicated to the Lord. They must also keep themselves from anything that is dead, and they must not cut their hair. No razor coming upon their head would be the secret to Samson's uniqueness. He was unique in the sense that he had the strength of many men to accomplish God's purpose in his life.

If he lived in our modern age, Samson would be the desire of women. A man's man in every way, but God set him apart for a divine appointment, a divine assignment, a unique calling to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines. I love to imagine these things unfolding. You can be certain that his mother at some point sat down with him and explained the whole thing. "Samson, I was barren and I was broken apart. This Angel of the Lord proved himself to me. As an angel of the Lord said that I would bear a son. You're that son. He said that you would be a Nazirite from birth, so I also took the vow of the Nazirite while I carried you, and that you're called. You will be the deliverer or the one that sets Israel free from its oppression."

In our modern New Testament times, we don't have such a thing as a Nazirite vow. We don't have a Nazirite vow in the Christian faith, but we do have a people that are set apart. It's you, it's the church. When the church is called of God, they are sanctified, you maybe heard that word, sanctified. It means, literally set apart. The word "Nazir" means set apart, the word "sanctified" means the same thing. Set apart for God's purpose. That's what it means. If you've been sanctified in Christ Jesus, you've been set apart for a purpose, a unique calling on your life.

We have a saying here at our church, "Where God guides, he provides." It applies in many things. It means that when God has a purpose, when he sets you apart for a purpose, he will equip you and sustain you for that purpose. In the case of Samson, it meant that the spirit of God would come upon him mightily so that he had the strength and the power to accomplish that purpose. He had power against his enemies because the spirit of God came upon him. I suggest that when you live sanctified, or in other words, set apart, and you walk in the purpose for which God called you, that the same Holy Spirit that came upon Samson is the same Holy Spirit that resides in the life of the believer and will equip you for God's purpose and calling in your life.

However, if you are not set apart, in other words, if you lose your set-apartness, I know that's not a word, I made it up. It's a good word. If you lose your set-apartness, in other words, to be set apart means to be different. If you have the Lord Jesus Christ, if you've welcomed him into your heart, he's set you apart. That means that you're different. He sets you apart for a purpose, for a calling. If you lose your set-apartness, I suggest you will not have the Holy Spirit's power to accomplish God's purpose in your life. The lesson of Samson's life for the believer is quite straightforward.

Don't mess around with your set-apartness, because that's really what was behind the epic failures of Samson's life. He was always messing around with his vow, his set-apartness. Let me say this, if you have failures in the past, sins or disappointments, it doesn't have to be the end of the story. Your past does not have to define your future. Let's read the story. It's a tremendous story. We're in Judges 16, we'll begin in verse four and we'll just read the whole story. "After this, it came about that he loved the woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah." All right. Here we meet the famous, or I should say, infamous Delilah.

We're also seeing here again one of Samson's weaknesses. He's got a thing for Philistine women. That's one of his weaknesses. He got a thing for Philistine women. Also, would you notice, comes from the Valley of Sorek. This is a wine country. Then it says, "The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, entice him. See where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver." Let me tell you, this is a fortune. In modern days, this would be multimillions of dollars worth of value.

Hey, she's a gold digger. She's in. Delilah, she does it. She says to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you." Samson, he's toying with it. He's messing with his vow. He's toying with it. He said, "Well, if they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will be weak and become like any other man." The lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them, no doubt, while he slept. Now, she had men lying in wait in an inner room. She said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson," but he snapped the cords like a string of tow snaps when it touches fire. His strength was not discovered.

Then, Delilah said to Samson, "Behold, you have deceived me. You told me lies. Now, please tell me how you may be bound." Now, I'm not a rocket scientist, but I'm thinking, "This is surely an indication that this relationship is in trouble. This is a very definition of a dysfunctional relationship." He says to her, "Well, if they bind me tightly with new ropes which have not been used, then I will be weak like any other man."

Delilah took new ropes, bound him with them and said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson," for the men were lying and waiting in the inner room. He snapped the ropes like a thread. Then Delilah said to Samson, "Up till now, you have deceived me and told me lies. Now, tell me how you may be bound." He said, and here you see him getting closer. He's weakening, talking about his hair. "If you weave the seven locks of my hair with a web and fasten it with a pin, then I shall be weak like any other man."

While he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them into a web, and she fastened it with a pin and said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson." He awoke from the sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web. Then she said to him, "How can you say, "I love you," when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me now three times and have not told me where your great strength is."

It came about that when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to the point of death. In other words, she nagged him until he couldn't take it anymore. He told her all that was in his heart. He told her. He said, "Well, razors never come upon my head. I have been a Nazir. A Nazarite. To God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength would leave me and I will become weak like any other man."

When Delilah saw that he had told her what was in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, "Come up at once for he has told me all of that's in his heart." The lords of the Philistines came up to her, brought the money, and put it in her hands. She made him sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to afflict him and his strength left him. She said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson." He awoke from his sleep and he said, "I will go out like other times and shake myself free," but did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze chains, and he became a grinder in the prison. Life's hard now. However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off. Now, the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god, and to rejoice where they said, "Our god has given Samson, our enemy, into our hands." When the people saw him, they praised their God, and they said, "Our god has given our enemy into our hands, even the destroyer of our country who has slain so many of us."

It so happened when they were in high spirits, in other words, they were drunk, that they said, "Call for Samson that he may amuse us." They called for Sampson from the prison and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests that I might lean against them." Now, the house was full of men and women. All of the lords of the Philistines were there. About 3,000 men and women were on the top of the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them.

Then Samson called to the Lord. Listen to this prayer. It's a prayer that's beautiful, especially when you hear the names of God in Hebrew. "Oh, Adonai Yahweh, please remember me. Please strengthen me just this one time. Oh, Elohim, that I may at once be avenged of these Philistines for my eyes." Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested. He braced himself against them, one on his right, one on his left. Samson said, "Let me die here now with these Philistines." He bent with all his might. The house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. The dead whom he killed at his death were more than whom he killed in his life.

I.  Sin Makes Life Hard

Then his brothers and all his father's house came down, took him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah, his father. Thus, he judged Israel 20 years. Tremendous story with a lot of application, because really when we look at his story, there are so many life lessons, starting with this, that his life is an example of the consequences of sin. We see that with this application, sin makes life hard, is going to make life really difficult.

Verse 4 says, "Samson loved the woman from the Valley of Sorek. Sorek means a choice vine. Here he is playing with his set-apartness, got a thing for Philistine women in wine country. He has no place being there. There he meets Delilah. He can defeat a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey, but he's defeated by one woman from Sorek. In other words, he's messing with his set-apartness. He's messing with this vow. He's flirting with danger. He's seeing how close he can come to the edge. There is a life lesson.

Let's bring modern application to it. Are there some places a Christian ought not to go? Surely, there are. Are there some things of the world a Christian should not ought to be part of? Surely, there are. That's part of the story. There's a set-apartness. You've been set apart from that. He says, "Unto the Lord, you have a purpose." If you have received Christ, if you've taken ahold of Christ in your life, you are set apart, sanctified, be different. Be different is the word.

A.  Sin will blind you

In the camp of the enemy, there are those who will discourage your faith and very much encourage your flesh. He's an example of the consequences of sin, starting with this. Sin will blind you. Samson's sin cost him dearly. Literally, he becomes blind when they take out his eyes, but I suggest he was already blind. In fact, I submit that he could see more, and I mean spiritually speaking afterward then when he had his eyes.

Verse 6, Delilah entices him, "Tell me where your greatest strength is and how you may be bound." It's clear from Samson's response that he's blind, because he thinks he's in control of the whole thing. He's blind to his own weakness, which makes him weaker because he's blind. He's weaker than he thinks. I was trying to think of an illustration. I thought, "Yes, it's like raising a pet tiger." It's all well and good when the thing's a kitten, but that thing's growing up. You think you got this thing under control until it turns and destroys your life.

See, sin has a way of clouding the thinking. Sin has a way of making a man stupid. You say, "Well, pastor, that's a harsh word." No, no. I'm just quoting them because when someone comes to their senses, what do they say? "How could I have been so stupid?" I'm just quoting, because there's a moment. There's a moment when someone comes to their senses, they open their eyes as a glorious moment. Someone who was blind, and then their eyes open. They see as God wants them to see. They come to their senses.

I tell you, I've been in ministry a long time, and I cannot tell you how many people have said, "Oh, I wish I had opened my eyes much longer, long time ago. Oh, I wish I had opened my eyes when I was young," many people have said. "Open my eyes. Let me come to my senses." This actually comes out of the story of the prodigal son out of Luke 15. You might remember this story. Here's this son who demanded his inheritance early so he could spend it in worldly living. He goes to the city, and the parties, and the women, and the whole thing, and then he ran out of money. Then, famine hit the land, he couldn't find a job. Finally, he finds the worst job a Jew could possibly have, he's feeding pigs.

That's when he comes to his senses. It's a glorious point in a person's life when they open their eyes and they see this thing as God wants them to see it. Luke 15:17, but when he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread and here I am dying of this hunger?" He saw, but God would open his eyes even more when he was with his father and his heart revealed a father's heart to bring him home.

Proverbs 7 is given to open eyes. Proverbs 7 is given to open the eyes of the heart. Early chapters of Proverb makes this contrast between wisdom and folly, and he uses the feminine to describe it, a woman of wisdom versus a woman of foolishness, and it's a feminine aspect of life. Notice proverbs 7:21-23, with her many persuasions, she entices. It's a picture of the worldliness and using the feminine, "With her many persuasions, she entices him. With her flattering lips, she seduces him. Suddenly, he follows her like an ox going to slaughter, like one in fetters going to the discipline of a fool, for he does not know that will cost him his life." He's blind. He's blind.

There were many warning signs for Samson, warning, and he blew right through all of them. Three times she tries to bind him so that she can hurt him. On the third time, he's getting to wear down. You can see that he's getting worn down, weakening because he's talking about his hair. It's like this in Proverbs 6:27-28, "Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not get burned?" How close do you think you're going to get to this thing? Or, "Can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not get scorched?"

Finally, she pulled out the, you don't love me card. "How can I believe you when you say you love me, when every time I try to tie you up so that I can hurt you, you lie? Do you know how much that hurts me?" Oh, she's working the thing now. She's working it now, and she's good. Scripture tells us she pressed him daily that his soul became annoyed. That's an interesting thing. He became annoyed in his spirit. She nagged him until he couldn't take it anymore.

There's an old saying, I don't know where I first heard it, but it's a good thing. "It's not the mountains ahead that wear you down, it's the pebble in your shoe." He's got to know, it's constant. It's constant, and it wears him down. She's using lies to defeat him. It's a great picture of sin because sin lies, and it will wear you down. You cannot conquer the mountains until you get rid of the pebble in your shoe.

It's like this out of John chapter 8. Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in him, "If you would continue in my word, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." It'll set you free. You won't have keep getting worn down by this, and he whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

B.  Sin will bind you

Here's the thing, we're seeing this out of his life, great life lessons, sin will blind you, but also, sin will bind you.

Finally, Delilah wears him down, he tells her his heart. She put him to sleep, have the locks cut off of his hair. He's bound immediately with bronze chains and his eyes are put out. Now, let's be clear. The power was not in his hair. It was in the spirit of the Lord coming upon him mightily, but the power was represented by his hair because his hair was a symbol of his set-apartness, of his vow of being dedicated. When he lost his hair, he was no longer functioning in his dedication. He was no longer walking in the power of God.

See, in other words, not only was Samson blinded by sin, he was enslaved by it. Which is to say, sin wants to be the master. Sin wants to be the master. Now, isn't there something? When you hear that, isn't there something that rises up inside of you that says, "No, nothing will master me, no. There's something that's got to arise. This thing will master you." "No, nothing will master me."

This is the very same thing that Paul said. This is what Paul said in 1st Corinthians 6:12-13, "All things are lawful for me, not all things are profitable. All things are lawful. I will not be mastered by anything." See, in other words, "I came to the Lord because I wanted him as my master. He is the captain. This thing will not master me. This thing is not going to master me. Oh, but it wants to. It wants to tell you what to do, and then it wants you to submit to its commands. There's something that arises, "No, I will not be mastered by this thing." Then he adds, "The body is not for immorality. God did not give you that body for immorality, but for the Lord." He says, "By the way, the Lord is for the body."

Sin binds. Sin becomes the master. It keeps pulling and pulling and pulling, but I tell you, Jesus came to set men free. It doesn't have to be the master. If you have submitted, and it is the master, he is the one who breaks free those who have come into the bondage of it. Notice, Luke 4:18, Jesus is quoting here, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel, the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim the lease to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, set free those who are oppressed.

C.  Sin will make life a grind

Oh, Father, thank you for sending your son, that there's hope for those who have been held captive by such things. We see here in Samson's life, great life lessons; sin will blind you, sin will bind you, and sin will make life a grind. I'm rhyming today. Don't you love it? What does it mean, sin will make life a grind? It'll be hard. It's going to make life hard. It's going to come back. It's going to come back. It's going to be hard.

After the Philistines bind Samson with these bronze chains, put out his eyes, they take him to Gaza, make him a grinder in the prison. It's hard. Now, it's no secret that at first, sin is quite pleasant, that's why people are drawn to it. It's quite pleasant. After all, the scripture says, "Stolen water is sweet." Proverbs 9:17-18, "Stolen water is sweet." In other words, there's something about the fact that it was stolen that makes it seem sweeter.

"Bread eaten in secret is quite pleasant," but he does not know that the dead are there, he's quite blind. He does not know that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. God doesn't have to make a law that says, "Thou shalt not hit thy thumb with a hammer," because the pain of it is warning enough. He does have to warn about sin because it is quite pleasant, and it comes back. But it comes back, and it makes life harder.

Proverbs 13:15, "Good understanding produces favor, but the way of the transgressor is hard." God can use that trouble. That's the thing. God can use such difficulty that it brings to stir someone up to awaken the soul, because that's the need to awaken something, to awaken the soul. Let me give you a great word out of Psalm 119, great chapter, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray. I was just going. I was doing what was right to my own eyes. I was just living my life according to the way I thought. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. It's good. It is good for me that I afflicted, that I may learn your statutes, your ways right."

II.  God’s Not Finished with You Yet

See, this is important. Isn't it? I tell you, I have met so many people who look back, and they did the thing, the world thing, the sin thing, whatever, and it came back and bit them hard and life became difficult, and then something has awoke in their soul and they got right with God, and then they look back and they say, "You know what? What happened, God used it to waken me up. God used it. That's why he says, it's good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn. Your statutes are right. I know, oh Lord, that your judgments are right. They are righteous all together, and that in faithfulness, you have afflicted me." In Judges 16, it's a tremendous lesson of life, and is this, God's not finished with you yet. The last chapter has not been written yet.

In many sports, there's a halftime. Football halftime, basketball, there's a halftime. It's an opportunity to go back to the locker room and to reassess the whole thing, to reassess. Many teams that were ahead at halftime came back to lose the game. Many teams that were losing came back after halftime to win, and in fact, some teens came back the last minute to win. That was Samson. That was Samson. In other words, you don't know how the thing's going to turn out until it ends, which is to say, God's not done here. You're not done yet.

There's something stirring in verse 22, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off. It's like a boxer, the good guy's beaten and bludgeoned and against the ropes and you think, "Oh, this thing is done. This thing is done." Then all of a sudden you watch as something starts to arise, and then you're like, "Something's happening here." That's why you get a sense of in verse 22. Something's happening here. Step back and see what he lost, he lost because of sin. You cannot regain what you lost because of sin without repentance and revival. Notice they are together. Repentance and revival go together.

Now, repentance is a good word. Some people don't like the word repentance. I have no idea why people don't like the word repentance. Isn't it good? It means to be turned around, it means to turn your life in a different direction. If somebody is walking in a direction that's going to lead him to trouble and difficulty and death, isn't it good if they turn around and start walking in the direction of life?

A.  God loves a broken and contrite heart

That's why repentance is good, but it comes with revival. Revival is the thing of the heart. Some people are just, they couldn't repent because they got caught, but when there's revival, there's something stirring in the soul. That's what's happening in Samson, and there's where we learn a great lesson about the Lord. God loves a broken and contrite heart. That's the thing. You say God loves brokenness? Yes. If it turns someone around, if it sets their life on a direction, God loves a broken and contrite heart. Here in Samson's messed up, broken life, grinding in the present, he remembers.

He remembers the calling of God on his life. He remembers his dedication grinding there in the prison. What is it he wants? Life's hard. All of it's come down on him. What is it he wants? I want my hair back. I want my dedication back. If you're not walking in God's purpose in your life, if all of it's come down, if life's become hard, it's come back to bite you, you might have the same prayer. Your prayer might be different, but the nature of it's the same. I want my life back. I want my peace back. I want my joy back, I want my marriage back, I want my victory back.

Here's the beautiful thing about God. He wants you back. I can say that with different emphases, God wants you back, or I can say, God wants you back. I like that one better. God wants you. It's so personal when you see it, I want you back. A number of years ago when I was a young man, when I was in high school, I was very involved in church and played worship even on my guitar. Then I graduated high school and went to Oregon State University, and I ran into a bus of the world.

Joined a fraternity, which was a terrible mistake. Parties every weekend, alcohol, beer flowing, spiked punch on and on. I'd never hardly even tested alcohol. Now I'm parties every weekend, and I tell you, it began to just poison my soul, made me sick. Although the parties were fun, but the soul was disturbed. Something's wrong in my soul. A certain emptiness is growing. It's disturbing me, Lord. I should add this point, because this went on for years. I should add at some point, I became the president of the fraternity. I'm in charge of these parties. One day I think I had enough, and I remember very clearly it was Sunday morning. We had a big party the night before.

I just woke up and I just like, "I got to go outside." I remember I had to step through the beer bottles. It was all sticky, and I go out there on the porch, and it was like fresh air. It was a beautiful warm Sunday morning, and I just stood there. I was like, "Oh, I miss you Lord." Have you ever had that Holy Spirit just speak into your heart thing? I just felt like the Holy Spirit was speaking to my heart. "I miss you. I want you back," and immediately I decided, I'm coming back. I went to my room and found my Bible, which I'm ashamed to say, it took me some time.

I found my Bible, got in my car, and I started driving to find a church because I didn't know where a church was. I hadn't been to church the whole time. I found a church, sat down, and oh, what happened when I sat down? I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but I sat down and I thought, "Oh, it's so good. I miss your presence, God, in my life. It's so good." It's such a beautiful thing to see the heart of God. I want you back.

Start with that. God is the God of the second chance. God is a God of mercy. His mercies are new every morning, but the essential question which remains is this, is the broken is genuine. Is it genuine? Psalm 51, you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise, I would give it. You are not pleased with the burn offering. No, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. O God, you will not despise. No. He delights in broken spirit. In other words, when you come to God in genuine repentance and confess your sin before him, he says he is faithful and just to forgive.

Faithfulness happens immediately. Forgiveness rather happens immediately, but restoration is a process of healing. I was thinking of an illustration. Imagine it this way, you do something dumb, crash your skateboard, wake up in the hospital and call out to God to forgive. Well, forgiveness will be yours immediately, but you're still in the hospital and you still need to heal. Healing takes time. For Samson, it's the transformation of the heart to come back to God grinding there in the prison. He's got a lot of time to think, and he remembers his vow. He remembered his commitment, his being set apart for a purpose of God, and he calls out, "Remember me. Please, give strength to me just one time."

B.  Let God define your future

Again it's so beautiful in the Hebrew. "O Adonai Yahweh, please remember, please give strength to me one more time one. O Elohim. The great lesson is that it's not done. God is not finished yet. It's not over. Maybe it's half time, it's time to reassess your life, and here's what I say, "Let God define your future." The failures of Samson's past did not define his future. God would write the final chapter. Failure is not the final word. Let failure not be the final word. It's grace, that's the final word. It's restoration, it's healing of the heart, it's revival. That's the final word.

In that final prayer, Samson was saying, "God, let this be my finest hour. When I close my eyes in death, let it be the greatest victory of my life." He was saying like Paul said, "To live is Christ, but to die is gain." Which is to say this, it's not too late. The final chapter has not been written. Would you say today to the Lord, "Whatever I got, whatever time I've got left, I give it to you. I'll live to your honor." Samson did more in the final moments than he accomplished all the years of his life, which is to say, let God write the final word. Don't give up, don't quit, don't run away.

Let God write the final chapter, because he wrote the final chapter for Samson, and it's in Hebrews 11:32. What more should I say? Time will fill me if I tell of Gideon, Barak and Samson. God will write the final word. Would you say today to the Lord, "Whatever I got left, I live it to your honor?" Let's pray. Father, thank you so much. It's so wonderful to see your heart. It blesses us to see that you don't quit, that you don't give up on us. Lord, we say today to you, whatever we got left, we don't know how long we got, but I want whatever I got left to be for you. Your honor, I live it to you. You write the final word. You write the final chapter.

Church, how many today would say to the Lord, "Whatever I got, it's yours? I don't know how long I have left, but whatever I got, it's yours. I will live it to your honor." Would you just say that to the Lord? Would you just raise your hand. That's a way of saying to the Lord, "Here's my life, here's my heart. I mean this, God. Whatever I got left, it's yours. I live it for your honor, your glory." Father, thank you for stirring us up, for showing us that you don't quit, and we honor you now. Thank you for it all. In Jesus' powerful name and everyone said, can we give the Lord praise and glory and honor? Amen. Amen. Amen.

After this it came about that he was in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. So the governors of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and [a]how we can overpower him so that we may bind him to humble him. Then we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and [b]how you can be bound to humble you.” And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh [c]animal tendons that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man.” Then the governors of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh [d]animal tendons that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had men prepared for an ambush in an inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he tore the tendons to pieces just like a thread of flax is torn apart when it [e]comes too close to fire. So his strength was not discovered.

10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have toyed with me and told me lies; now please tell me [f]how you may be bound.” 11 Then He said to her, “If they bind me tightly with new ropes [g]which have not been used, then I will become weak and be like any other man.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” For the men in the ambush were waiting in the inner room. But he tore [h]the ropes from his arms like thread.

13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have toyed with me and told me lies; tell me [i]how you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my [j]hair with the [k]web [l][and fasten it with the pin, then I will be weak like any other man.” 14 So while he slept, Delilah wove the seven locks of his [m]hair with the web]. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.

15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have toyed with me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.” 16 And it came about, when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was [n]annoyed to death. 17 So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent word and called the governors of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart.” Then the governors of the Philistines came up to her and brought up the money in their hands. 19 And she made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to humble him, and his strength left him. 20 She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and restrained him with bronze chains, and he became a grinder in the prison. 22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.

23 Now the governors of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to celebrate, for they said,

“Our god has handed Samson our enemy over to us.”

24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said,

“Our god has handed our enemy over to us,
Even the destroyer of our country,
Who has killed many of us.”

25 It so happened when [o]they were in high spirits, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he [p]entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars. 26 Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “[q]Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, so that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the house was full of men and women, and all the governors of the Philistines were there. And about three thousand men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was entertaining them.

28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “Lord [r]God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, “Let [s]me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed outwards powerfully, so that the house fell on the governors and all the people who were in it. And the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed during his lifetime. 31 Then his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he had judged Israel for twenty years.

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