The Final Act | Sunday, September 29, 2024

Now Samson went down to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her... So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. And 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. He had judged Israel twenty years. (Judges 16, selected)

The strong man with a weak character meets his final act—and even here, the story is really about the relentless grace of God.

The Danger of Strength

We come this morning to Judges chapter 16, the last chapter of the four-chapter saga of Samson's life—the strong man with a weak character. This is the section where we meet the person most commonly associated with Samson: Delilah. Even people who don't really know the Bible know the story of Samson and Delilah.

One of the things we've seen as we've considered Samson is the danger of strength. One of those dangers is that we begin to trust in our own strength and think we are invincible—a dangerous place to be. I was at the air show yesterday, watching the American military fly the F-22, and it does things you don't think are possible in an airplane. It's stunning. But the danger with strength is that we begin to trust in it and think we are invincible. The Psalms say, Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but we will trust in the name of our God. We need to be constantly reminded that our strength is ultimately from and in the Lord.

A Mess Called Forth by Grace

Samson's final act is not its finest hour—but then, none of his previous hours were all that fine either. Samson was a mess, and he consistently caused messes everywhere he went. Yet it is important to remember that his life was called forth by God before he was conceived. Before he was conceived in his mother's womb, he was conceived in the mind and heart of God, who had a purpose and plan for his life.

In spite of all the mess, Samson is mentioned in Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith—a testimony to God's grace. Paul said in 1 Corinthians, I am what I am by the grace of God. That was true of Paul, true of Samson, and very much true of my life and yours. By God's grace we receive salvation, but it is also by God's grace that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that we should walk in them, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 2.

God's intent for Samson from before he was conceived was that God would begin to deliver Israel through him (Judges 13:5). But to this point Samson has only ever delivered himself from chaotic circumstances of his own making. At the end of chapter 15, after he killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey—an indication this had nothing to do with brute strength but God's grace—it says Samson judged Israel twenty years.

Down to Gaza

For those twenty years Samson stood as a bulwark against the Philistines. But grudges die hard, and the Philistines had a grudge to settle. They knew he had supernatural strength—and the fact that they didn't understand where it came from suggests Samson was probably not some Arnold Schwarzenegger of a man. He was likely an unremarkable-looking fellow, perhaps 5'5", and they looked at him in awe at the feats he accomplished. That is a testimony that the strength came from God, not from him. They knew that as long as he lived he would be a problem, so either his strength had to be captured or Samson had to die.

Now Samson went down to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.

Isn't it interesting that Gaza was in the news 3,200 years ago and is still in the news today as a source of trouble for the children of Israel? Gaza was the southernmost of the five key Philistine cities, and Samson lived in the north. So he had to travel through all their territory to get there—not covertly, which doesn't fit his character at all, but more likely walking in arrogance, thinking, "I've got this. Nobody can stand against me. I'm the great and mighty Samson." And as always, you can count on Samson to be in the wrong place doing the wrong thing.

Carrying Off the Gates

When the Gazites learned Samson had come, they surrounded the place and lay in wait all night at the gate, saying, "In the morning when it is daylight we will kill him." I wonder why they waited. Maybe they wanted to see the shock on his face when they finally captured him. If you've never read the rest of the story, you'd think Samson is toast. And there's a part of you that thinks God's finally got to be done with this guy—that if God were anything like you and me, He would say, "All right, hands off; let's see how you handle this one."

We can easily fall into the trap of thinking God's patience and strength, even in the midst of our stupidity, are tacit approval of our foolishness. But at midnight Samson rose, took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, and pulled them up, bar and all. It would have been enough to rip them out and toss them aside, but Samson enjoys the theatrical—so he put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill facing Hebron, some forty miles away and two thousand feet higher in elevation. He did this by the enabling power of God.

The Gifts and Callings of God Are Irrevocable

When I'm reminded that God was with Samson even while he was doing wrong things in wrong places, I'm in awe of God's grace and mercy. Samson was a bonehead, and he's nothing without God's strength. We love Philippians—I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me—but we must also remember Jesus' words: Without me you can do nothing.

This reminds me of Paul in Romans 11, reflecting on Israel's consistent disobedience and yet God's mercy. He says, The gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. God has given you gifts, callings, talents, abilities, training, and experience, and it is His desire that you use them for His glory and pleasure. When we do, it is the most satisfying thing for us—our greatest joy. But we can also use those gifts for ourselves, and God doesn't simply snatch them back, because He is phenomenally gracious.

This becomes painfully clear when the hidden lives of sin in seemingly great men are exposed. Another well-known minister in America was outed just these last couple of weeks. I think of Bob Coy, whom many of us in Calvary Chapel looked up to—a brilliant communicator who pastored one of the largest churches in America, nearly 20,000 people in Fort Lauderdale, until about 2015 when he lost it all. A friend who pastors in Connecticut aired Bob Coy's radio program, The Active Word. The very last message uploaded before everything fell apart was this passage—Judges 16, Samson and Delilah. I listened to it this week, and it brings tears to my eyes, because you hear him articulate the very passage he was, in effect, preaching to himself. And yet I'm in awe of God's mercy, because the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable.

The Lord, Merciful and Gracious

That is because of God's nature. In Exodus 34, after Israel bowed to the golden calf, God gave them mercy instead of judgment, and Moses was so blown away he said, "Show me your glory." God placed him in the cleft of the rock, and as He passed by, He declared His name—which is connected to His nature: The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Of all He could say about Himself, He leads with mercy.

He by no means clears the guilty, and He will ultimately judge sin—but He leads with mercy, grace, patience, and forgiveness. I'm grateful, because I am consistently in desperate need of His mercy, and so are you. His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. It is good that God is faithful, because we are consistently fallen.

Delilah and the Schemes of the Enemy

Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

Now we reach the part most people know: the strong man with a weakness for women, and the woman known to be his downfall. Notice, it had not said he loved the Philistine woman of Timnah, nor the prostitute in Gaza—but here he loved Delilah. The lords of the Philistines came to her and said, "Entice him, find out where his great strength lies and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him, and each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver"—about a year's wages.

Point one: do not underestimate the lengths to which the enemy will go to destroy you. Just as Samson's people had an enemy in the Philistines, you have an adversary—the devil, Satan—who fights against the purposes and plans of God. God conceived a purpose for you before you were conceived, and the enemy wants to destroy both that plan and you in the process.

Point two: the enemy aims to overpower, bind, and afflict you, just as the Philistines wanted to do to Samson. This has always been his plan, and it will be until the Lord casts him into the lake of fire. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2 that we should not be ignorant of his devices. His pattern remains the same, seeking to take advantage of our weaknesses, to steal, kill, and destroy.

So what should we do? Paul says in Ephesians 4 to walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise. Peter says to be sober and vigilant, because our adversary the devil prowls like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour—so resist him, steadfast in the faith. And in Ephesians 6, Paul says to put on the whole armor of God so we may stand against the cunning craftiness of the devil. Stand, or you will fall—like Samson, like Bob Coy, like Steve Lawson this last week, a name that means a great deal to many Christian leaders in America. Unfortunately, Samson took no such note; he thought he stood by his own strength.

Playing Games with Sin

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

Listen: if a woman ever says, "Tell me where your great strength lies and how I can bind and afflict you," flee. How dumb are you? Really dumb. You would hope this Nazarite from birth would run like Joseph from Potiphar's wife in Genesis. The New Testament says flee sexual immorality, flee all manner of sin—because you are far weaker than you think.

But of course Samson plays the game. He said if they bound him with seven fresh bowstrings he would become weak. They did, with men lying in wait in the room, and Delilah cried, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he broke the bowstrings like yarn touching fire. Then she said, "You've mocked me and told me lies—now tell me." So he said new ropes would do it.

Point three: do not underestimate the lengths to which sin will make you stupid. She bound him with new ropes, the men lay in wait, and he broke them off his arms like thread. You'd think after the second time he'd get the point—but sin makes you stupid, stupid enough to play silly games with it. Next he said to weave the seven locks of his head into the loom; she did, and he pulled out the batten and loom—he must have been quite a sight with the loom stuck in his hair.

His Soul Vexed to Death

"How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me?... So it was, 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."

Some of the saddest words of Scripture. He said no razor had ever come upon his head, for he had been a Nazarite to God from his mother's womb; if shaven, his strength would leave. I don't think Samson believed it would actually leave. I think he thought, "I've got this." Many seduced by sin think the same: "I could quit anytime. I've got control." He thought that, because sin makes you stupid.

Point four: sin's seduction will not cease until you surrender in submission. It's painful to read—"I've been a Nazarite to God from birth"—even while eating honey from a lion's carcass, even while with a prostitute in Gaza.

When Delilah saw he had told her all his heart, she called the lords of the Philistines, who came with the money. She lulled him to sleep on her knees, called for a man to shave the seven locks of his head, and then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. Point five: if you play with sin, your plaything will ultimately torment you.

Blinded, Bound, and Grinding

She cried, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" He awoke and said, "I will go out as before and shake myself free." He didn't think he'd crossed the line; he thought he could quit anytime. But—some of the saddest words of Scripture—he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. The Philistines seized him, put out his eyes, brought him down to the very Gaza whose gates he had carried off, bound him with bronze fetters, and made him a grinder in the prison, walking in circles like a donkey turning a mill.

Point six: sin will blind you, bind you, and grind you—as I heard a pastor preach more than twenty years ago. That's exactly what happened to Samson.

The Final Act and the Grace of God

Yet the story doesn't end there, because it is not about Samson's strength, power, or character—it's about God's grace, and God is still gracious.

However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been cut.

The lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon—their chief deity, depicted as half fish, half man. Drunk and merry, they said, "Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands," and called for him to perform. They stationed him between the pillars of the temple. About three thousand men and women were on the roof watching. Samson asked the lad holding him to let him feel the pillars supporting the temple so he could lean on them. Then he called out:

"O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!"

He braced himself against the two middle pillars, one on his right and one on his left, and said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people. So the dead he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. His family came and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.

How Do We Conclude?

It's a sobering story, and we ought to learn from it. We need to guard our hearts and minds against temptation and the swift slide to sin that will inevitably destroy us. We do that by putting on the whole armor of God—the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God—praying always.

But we must also do what Samson did not: flee temptation. Don't play with it. You don't have control over it. You are weaker than you think, and it's important to recognize your weakness and ask for God's strength. Seek His strength and surrender to His lordship. It is far better to serve the Lord God than the lords of the Philistines, who will blind, bind, and grind you. Sin is relentless. We have sadly seen at least four high-profile Christian leaders in the last six months who did not take note of this reality and toyed with it. We should be careful not to follow their path—it's the same old path for more than 3,000 years. God strengthen us, and give us wisdom to trust in You.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I thank you for the sobering story of Samson, and I pray you would help us not to quickly forget it. It's so easy to walk out these doors and be overcome by the challenges of the day and the week and all that's going on in the world—hurricane and devastation in the southern part of our country, war in the Middle East and Ukraine, the economy, presidential elections, the chaos of our daily lives, the difficulties of business and school. There are so many things that can absorb our attention and distract us to the point that we find ourselves prey to temptation and sin.

Would you do a work in our hearts, Lord, to set our hearts and minds upon you and to look to you for strength and power. Help us to acknowledge and recognize our weakness, because when we do we experience your strength. I pray we would walk in your strength this week—walking in the Spirit, not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, but making abundant the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. Work these things into my life and the lives of my brothers and sisters, we pray, for your glory, in Jesus' name. Amen.