Thursday, December 6, 2007

By Faith... the Judges, Part 40 of 62

TEXT: "What more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets" (Hebrews 11:32).

IDEA: Self-confidence can blind us to spiritual realities.

PURPOSE: To help listeners understand that because God does not pay off every Saturday night, it doesn’t mean that he won’t pay off.

Years ago I worked with a young man whom everyone regarded as a dedicated Christian. He worked in banking and was rising to the top. He also used his position to embezzle money. The amount he took was around $10,000. Apparently he had done it several times. He started with small amounts, then began taking larger amounts, but each time he was able to put it back. Once again he played his dangerous game, but he thought he would be able to pay back what he had embezzled. But examiners came when he didn’t expect them and his “borrowing” was discovered. Usually the people he worked for didn’t make embezzling public to protect the image of the bank. But this time the bank decided to make an example of him and pressed charges against him. Everything that he had worked for, his future and his freedom and reputation were thrown away. It made the headlines in the local paper. Some people in the church wondered if the young man could possibly have been a Christian. What would you say?

I. In Hebrews 11:32 the writer selects Samson as an example of a man who lived by faith.

Do you ever wonder if the writer of the letter to the Hebrews had read the story of Samson in the Old Testament? If we didn’t have the verdict of the writer, would have wondered whether Samson was a regenerate man?

Like my friend in the bank, Samson may have been a man of faith, but he seems pretty stupid.

Here is the account of his fall in Judges 16:4-21: [Read text in parts—Narrator, Samson, Delilah]

Narrator: Now afterward it happened that Samson loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her,

Lords of the Philistines: Entice him and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.

Narrator: So Delilah said to Samson,

Delilah: Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.

Narrator: And Samson said to her,

Samson: If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

Narrator: So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. Now there were men lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to Samson,

Delilah: The Philistines are upon you, Samson!

Narrator: But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. Then Delilah said to Samson,

Delilah: Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.

Narrator: So he said to her,

Samson: If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

Narrator: Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him,

Delilah: The Philistines are upon you, Samson!

Narrator: And there were men lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread. Then Delilah said to Samson,

Delilah: Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.

Narrator: And he said to her,

Samson: If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom . . .

Narrator: So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him,

Delilah: The Philistines are upon you, Samson!

Narrator: But he awake from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom. Then she said to him,

Delilah: How can you say, ‘I love you’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies.

Narrator: And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all his heart, and said to her,

Samson: No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

Narrator: When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying,

Delilah: Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.

Narrator: So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for 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,

Delilah: The Philistines are upon you, Samson!

Narrator: So he awoke from his sleep, and said,

Samson: I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!

Narrator: But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.

How do you feel when you read that account? How do you think that the writer of Judges wanted the readers to feel?

II. How would you explain Samson’s response to Delilah?

“Love is blind.” Samson’s affection for Delilah blinded him to what was obviously taking place. He was like a cow at the slaughterhouse and he didn’t know it.

Samson thought that he was playing a game with Delilah. It turned out to be Russian roulette and he spun the bullet.

He had not taken seriously the other requirements of being a Nazirite (not touching a dead body, not drinking alcohol) and nothing had happened. For over 40 years the part about his hair was the only part of the vow that he had kept as a sign of his dedication to God.

Delilah wore him down (16:16). Her constant tears rusted his resolve. He had enough, but he didn’t flee from her. He told her his “secret.”

III. Samson not only lost his strength, but he lost touch with God (16:18-21).

These are pathetic verses. Why do you think Samson went to sleep in Delilah’s lap? Do you think he knew what might happen? Can you identify with him?

Verse 20: “He did not know that the Lord had departed from him.”

He lost his strength and he had lost touch with God.

Could this happen to a regenerated person?