The Final Act | Sunday, September 29, 2024

Amen! Praise the Lord! Thank you, Anthony and team. Good morning, Cross Connection. You can have a seat. It is good to be reminded of God's faithfulness to us as we sing about His great faithfulness this morning. God is good! Some of you know that. Good all the time!

Hey, praise the Lord! It's been a long time since I said that. I do want to acknowledge, before we get into the Scriptures this morning, that I think I saw Bill. There’s Bill! Everybody say hello to Bill. Bill has been in the north of Israel with Samaritan's Purse for the last few weeks. We prayed for him a few weeks ago, and he’s back safe. He did not expect that things in the north of Israel would get a little interesting while he was there, so we’re grateful that you’re back, Bill. I look forward to talking with you.

Praise God! God is certainly good to us and faithful to us. We are going to get into the Scriptures this morning in Judges chapter 16. If you don’t have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of the ushers will bring you one. Judges chapter 16 is the last chapter of the four-chapter saga of Samson's life—the strong man with a weak character that we have been thinking about. This is the section of Samson's story where we are introduced to the person most commonly associated with him: Samson and Delilah. We all know that name. Even people who don’t really know the Bible are familiar with this section of Scripture and the story of Samson and Delilah.

We’re going to be getting into that section today, looking at it. One of the things we see with Samson in this story, as we’ve been considering it over the last several weeks, is the danger of strength. One of the dangers of strength is that we can begin to trust in our own strength and think that we are invincible. That’s a real dangerous place to be in, as we will see in this story.

I was thinking about that yesterday. I was at the air show. Have any of you ever gone to the air show? The last day of the air show is today. It’s a pretty fascinating thing. It is amazing to see the American military. They were flying the F-22 at one point yesterday, and the thing is just stunning. It does things that you don’t think are possible in an airplane. You just look at it and go, "That is absolutely amazing."

Again, the danger with strength is that we begin to trust in that and think that we are invincible. The Scriptures say in the Psalms, "Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but we will trust in the name of our God." So, we need to be constantly reminded that our strength ultimately is from and in the Lord.

Samson's final act is where we find ourselves today in Judges 16, and unfortunately, Samson's final act is not its finest hour. Unfortunately, none of the...

His previous hours have not been fine either. In the story we have been going through, Samson was a mess, and he consistently caused messes just about everywhere he went. As we see the mess that is Samson and the chaos that follows in his wake, it is really important to remember that Samson's 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. God had a purpose and plan for him, a purpose and plan for his life.

In spite of all the mess that Samson was in and the chaos he left behind, it is still awesome to remember that he is mentioned in the New Testament passage in Hebrews chapter 11, which is called the Hall of Faith. This serves as a testimony to God's grace. Paul, in 1 Corinthians, said, "I am what I am by the grace of God," and I know that this is true over Paul's life and Samson's life, but it is very much true over my life and your life as well. We need to remind ourselves that we are what we are by the grace of God.

It is by God's grace that 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. That's what Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 2. This is the ethical result of salvation; we ought to walk in these good works that God has determined for us.

God's intent for Samson, from before the time he was conceived, was that He would begin to deliver Israel through him. This is what God said to Samson's parents in Judges 13:5. However, up to this point in the story, Samson has only ever really delivered himself from chaotic circumstances that were the result of his own actions. He is constantly finding himself in a mess that stems from his own choices.

Again, by God's grace, he had these supernatural strengths and abilities that allowed him to bring himself out of and through those situations. At the end of Judges chapter 15, which we looked at last week, after Samson has killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, it is clear that this had nothing to do with his brute strength and power, but rather with God's grace and supernatural strength. After he has killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, it says that...

Samson judged Israel for twenty years during the days of the Philistines. To be a judge over Israel at that time meant he was effectively a ruler and a leader, serving as the defense against their enemy. For twenty years, after he killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, he stood as the primary defense for Israel against the Philistines. During this time, the Philistines were unable to gain the upper hand against Israel, largely due to Samson's role as their protector.

However, as you probably know, grudges die hard. The Philistines held a deep grudge against Samson for killing a thousand of their mighty men. His actions prevented them from flourishing against the people of Israel, and they were at a loss for how to deal with him. They were aware of his supernatural strength, which we will see in this passage this morning. The Philistines did not understand where his strength came from, suggesting that Samson was likely not a giant like Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was probably around five foot five and weighed about 155 pounds. They looked at him in awe and wonder, questioning how he could accomplish such feats. This is a testament to the fact that his strength came from God.

The Philistines recognized that as long as Samson was alive, he would be a problem for them. Therefore, they had two options: either they needed to find a way to capture his great strength, or Samson had to die. With this in mind, it is safe to assume that during the twenty years he served as a bulwark against the Philistines, they were constantly looking for an opportunity to either kill him or find a way to subdue his strength.

As you would expect from Samson, he would give them ample opportunity to do just that. Judges 16:1 states, "Now Samson went down to Gaza." Isn't it interesting that Gaza was in the news three hundred twenty years ago and is still in the news today as a source of trouble?

For the children of Israel, Gaza was the southernmost city of the five key cities of the Philistines. The other cities were Gath, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron. Since the southernmost city of the Philistines was Gaza, and Samson lived in the north of the land, it means that he had to travel all the way through these four cities to get to Gaza, where we find the story that starts this chapter this morning.

If he is traveling through all these cities of the Philistines, either he is doing it subtly and covertly, kind of like by night in the shadows, which does not fit with Samson's character at all, or, more likely, Samson figures, "I got this. Nobody can stand against me. I'm the great and mighty Samson." So, he walks in his arrogance, in the boldness of what he thought was his strength—albeit it was supernatural strength. He goes down to Gaza, and what does he find there?

You can almost always count on Samson to be in the wrong place and doing the wrong thing. Samson went down to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and he went in unto her. That is the very nice biblical way of saying that Samson was engaging with a prostitute in Gaza. Again, he was not in the right place and not doing the right thing. Is it any surprise, though, knowing what we know of Samson so far? It's hard to be surprised by what he does here, even though it is startling and shocking.

This is the guy that God, from before he was conceived, had a call and a purpose for in his life. God gave him this divine supernatural strength and called him to be under a vow, a Nazarite vow, which is given to us in Numbers Chapter 6. From before he was born, his mother was also to be vowed to God during the time that she was pregnant with Samson. Now, from birth, he has been committed to, at least on the outside—that's the appearance, that's how it looks to everybody. He is the great Samson who follows God faithfully. He has the long hair that indicates he is a Nazarite, and he is doing all the right things, but he clearly was not.

So, no one is surprised by what we read here, even though it is somewhat shocking. However, I would say the Philistines were somewhat surprised—pleasantly surprised—that now they have a great opportunity.

Potentially, they could move against Samson. He has been the bulwark against them for twenty years, and finally, he is deep in their territory. They have an opportunity to act.

From verse two, when the Philistines were told that Samson had come there, they surrounded the place he was in and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, "In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him."

I wonder, when I read that, why wait? Why wait until morning when it is daylight? Maybe they wanted it all to be seen; they wanted the cameras there, ready to roll to capture Samson's surprise as they finally got him. But you wonder, why not just take him by surprise in the middle of the night? Why wait until morning?

They waited because, in their minds, they thought, "He's in our territory. He's deep in our territory. We've got him surrounded; he has nowhere to go. We finally got him. We can move upon him in the morning." What delight it would be to see the shock and surprise in his eyes when they captured him. That’s what they may have been thinking.

As we read this, we might think Samson is toast. This is it. If you've never read the rest of the story and you don't know what's going to happen, you might think, "Well, finally, he's in a pickle, and there's no way he's getting out of this one." There’s a part of it that makes you think, "God's finally got to be like, 'All right, we're done. We're done. You just keep going around, adding sin to sin, doing the most worthless things in the most worthless places.'"

If God were anything like me, and you should all be thankful he's not, it would be like, "All right, hands off. I'm just going to step away and let's see how you handle this one, Samson."

We can very easily fall into the trap of thinking that God's patience and strength, even in the midst of our stupidity, is a tacit approval of our foolishness. It's a real danger to get into that place. But I wonder if Samson was maybe in that place.

In verse three, he lay low until midnight, and then he arose at midnight. They did not take him by surprise at midnight like they should have, but he knew what was going on. So, at midnight, he rose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gate posts.

Samson pulled them up, bar and all, so we don't know how big the gates and doors of the city of Gaza, one of the key five cities of the Philistines, were. You have to assume that they were rather large. In our minds, we can imagine some very large gates and doors, and he just rips them out by his supernatural strength. It would have been enough to simply rip them out and throw them aside, marching along his way. However, Samson has a tendency to enjoy the theatrical. I think he put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

Now, there is a lot of discussion about exactly what this hill was, but Hebron is some 40 miles away with a 2,000-foot elevation increase from the city of Gaza. Is it possible that he carried these things all the way up to Hebron? He certainly likes the theatrical. It is a crazy thing to see here, and yet again, it is likely that Samson was not some Incredible Hulk of a man. He did this by the enabling power of God.

When I am reminded, as we are in this text, that God was with Samson and that God gave him supernatural strength even when Samson was doing the wrong things in the wrong places, I am reminded again of the awesome grace and mercy of God. If God were anything like me, He would have said, "Alright, I'm done. I've given you enough, and now I'm just going to let you fall flat on your face." But I am in awe of God's grace and mercy as it relates to Samson. Samson was a bonehead, and this is perfectly seen. As we will see, and as we kind of have a hunch about, he is nothing without God's strength and power, which is a good thing for me to consider.

We love the verse in Philippians: "I can do all things through God who gives me strength." However, we also need to remember that Jesus said, "Without me, you can do nothing." I am not sure that Samson fully acknowledged or recognized that he has been utterly disobedient and just a terrible servant of God up to this point. Yet, God continues to be gracious, which reminds me of an interesting word from the Apostle Paul in Romans.

In Chapter 11, Paul speaks about Israel's consistent disobedience. Although he was Jewish himself, he reminisces about Israel's unfaithfulness to God and their disobedience. Yet, he also speaks of God's mercy. In Romans 11:29, he states, "The gifts and callings of God are irrevocable," which is an awesome thing to consider. God has given you gifts, callings, talents, and abilities, just as He did for Samson and many others. He has allowed you to have training, education, and experience, all of which ultimately come from God.

It is God's intent and desire that we use these gifts for His glory, purposes, and pleasure. The amazing thing I have discovered, and perhaps you have seen this as well, is that when we do things for God's glory and pleasure, we find the most satisfaction. Our greatest joy is found in engaging in those activities. However, God gives us these abilities and talents, and there is a way we can use them not for His glory or pleasure, but for our own purposes and enjoyment.

We constantly see people who have been magnificently gifted by God, yet they only use their talents for themselves. It is not as if God simply takes those gifts back; He allows them to continue using their abilities in that way because He is phenomenally gracious. This becomes very clear when we discover the hidden lives of sin in individuals who seem, on the outside, to be great men of God. For example, Samson appeared to be a great Nazarite, yet he was hanging out with prostitutes in Gaza.

We have had several examples of this over the last few weeks and months. Recently, another well-known minister in America was outed in a similar situation. I can't help but think of someone I mentioned several weeks ago. If you have been around the Calvary Chapel movement for a while, you may know the name Bob Koy. Many of us who were in Calvary Chapel for a long time looked up to Bob Koy and listened to his messages on K-Wave or the Calvary Satellite Network, particularly "The Active Word" with Bob Koy. However, around 2015, he lost all of his ministry and everything he had built. He pastored one of the largest churches in America, with almost 20,000 people in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Florida. It pains me to even say it because I remember going to pastors' conferences and hearing Bob Koy. I sat there, just blown away by his ability to articulate the Scriptures. The guy was like a comedian—incredibly funny, far funnier than me. It was just amazing to listen to him. Our hearts collectively broke as Calvary Chapel pastors when we heard about the devastation of the whole thing.

Here is what blows my mind: I have a friend who pastors a church in Connecticut at Calvary Chapel. He has a radio station, and on that radio station, the Active Word, Bob Koy's radio ministry, would come on every single day. He sent me an email after all that because what would happen is the radio ministry would upload all the audio files to their servers for the next week or month. The very last message that Active Word had given them for Bob Koy's ministry was this passage from Judges chapter 16 about Samson and Delilah. I happened to have the message still on my computer, and I listened to it this last week. Honestly, it brings tears to my eyes to think about it because to hear him articulate this passage of Scripture, you think you are preaching to yourself. It's heartbreaking, and yet I am in awe of God's mercy because the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. That is because of the nature of God.

God reveals something of His nature, and I have highlighted it many times before, but it's so awesome. Moses is in awe of God's mercy. The children of Israel have bowed down to an idol, the golden calf, in the book of Exodus, and God gives them mercy instead of judgment. Moses is blown away by God's mercy, and he says in response to this, "I want to see your glory." God replies that he cannot see His glory and live, but He makes a provision. In Exodus 34, He says, "I'm going to put you in the cleft of the rock, and I'm going to appear in your presence. Then I'll leave, and you can see my afterglow."

Here’s the amazing thing about God: He is so glorious that if He were to show up here in this place and then leave, His glory would still kind of residually be there. It's like the woman who wears too much perfume; when she leaves, her essence is still there. That is what Moses saw—the essence of God's glory. But greater than what he saw was what he heard because in Exodus 34:6, God declares His name, which is connected to His nature. How does God reveal Himself? The Lord, the Lord God, merciful. Of all the things that He could have chosen to say about Himself, He...

Chooses to say, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful," and I love that. But it doesn't end there. He says, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, and patient, long-suffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." That is awesome!

Now, He by no means clears the guilty, and He will ultimately judge sin, but He leads with mercy, grace, patience, abundant goodness, truth, and forgiveness. Is anybody thankful for that this morning? I'm so grateful for that, and I'm grateful for it because I am consistently in desperate need of God's mercy, and so are you. His mercies, the Scriptures say, are new every morning. That song we sang, "Great is Your faithfulness, Lord," comes from that idea in Lamentations Chapter 3: "The mercies of the Lord are new every morning; great is His faithfulness."

It is so good that God is faithful because we are consistently fallen. Samson is foolish, and his stupidity and sin are not finished.

Afterward, after that whole incident at Gaza with that prostitute at the city gates, it happened that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorak whose name was Delilah. Now we get to the passage that most people know about Samson—the strong man with a weakness for women. The woman who is known in his story to be his downfall shows up here in this passage. After all of his shenanigans at Gaza, he loved a woman.

This is different because it hadn't said that about the young beautiful Philistine in Timna, nor had it said that about the prostitute in Gaza. But here, with this woman, he loved Delilah. However, grudges die hard, and the Philistines want Samson dead. They are looking for an opportunity to move against him.

So, the lords of the Philistines came up to her, to Delilah, and said to her, "Entice him and find out where his great strength lies." Because, looking at the guy, he didn't seem like the one who had this kind of supernatural strength. "Find out where his great strength lies and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him."

Afflict him, and every one of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver, which is about a year's wage. We're going to give you a year's wage. All you have to do is figure out where his strength comes from, how we can bind him, and how we can torment him.

Point number one, if you're taking notes: do not underestimate the lengths to which the enemy will go to destroy you. The children of Israel and Samson, as their champion, had an enemy in the Philistines, and you have an enemy, an adversary. The Scripture calls him the devil or Satan. He has others with him who fight against the purposes and plans of God. Just like Samson, God has a purpose and a plan that He conceived for you from before you were conceived in your mother's womb. The enemy wants to destroy His purposes and plans and destroy you in the process to disrupt His purpose and plan. We should not lose sight of that.

The enemy wanted to know how to entice Samson and to find out where his great strength would lie so that they could take hold of him and destroy him. Do not miss this. Please recognize this.

Point number two: the enemy aims to overpower, bind, and afflict you in the same way that the Philistines wanted to overpower, bind, and afflict Samson. The enemy is seeking an opportunity against you to overpower, bind, and afflict you. This is the enemy's plan. This has been the enemy's plan, and this will continue to be the enemy's plan. He is incredibly good at doing this. He has been doing it for a very long time, and he will continue to do this long after you and I are gone, should the Lord tarry. He will continue to do this until the Lord finally destroys him in the lake that burns with fire, which is what the Scriptures say will eventually happen.

Therefore, Paul in 2 Corinthians 2 says we should not be ignorant of his devices. Do not be unaware of his schemes. His pattern remains the same over and over again. He is looking for ways in which he can take advantage of our weaknesses, and we all have weaknesses.

Steal, to kill, and to destroy. We are foolish if we fail to recognize that there is an enemy who is seeking to destroy and disrupt God's purpose and plans in our lives. Therefore, what should we do? Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4 that we should walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Peter also advises that we should be sober and vigilant because our adversary, the devil, goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Therefore, resist him, Peter says. Stand strong against him, steadfast in the faith.

How do we do that? Paul, in Ephesians chapter 6, tells us to put on the whole armor of God so that we may be able to stand against the cunning craftiness of the devil. Stand against him, or you will fall, like Samson, like Bob Koy, like Steve Lawson. This last week, that name may not mean anything to you, but it means a lot to many Christian leaders in America. Stand strong; do not be unaware of his schemes or ignorant of his devices.

Unfortunately, Samson didn't take note of those verses. They were written after him, and he did not put on the whole armor of God. He thought he stood by his own strength; at least, that's how it seems in this passage. In Judges chapter 16, verse 6, Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies and with what you may be bound to afflict you."

Guys, listen: if a woman ever says to you, "Tell me where your great strength lies and how I can bind and afflict you," flee! How dumb are you? Really dumb, that's the answer—really, really dumb. At this point, you would hope that this great man of God, the Nazarite from birth, would be like Joseph in the story of Potiphar's wife in Genesis. He would flee as fast as he possibly can. That's what the New Testament says: flee sexual immorality, flee all kinds and manners of sin. Why? Because you're not as strong as you think you are. You're far weaker than you believe.

Lies can bind and afflict us, and of course, Samson plays the game because he enjoys it. We've already seen this about Samson; he likes to go back and forth with people. "Oh, let's have a little riddle time, shall we?" So, Samson said to her in verse 7, "If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings not yet dried, then I shall become weak like other men." You can imagine he's thinking, "How can I spin this? This should be fun. Let's see how I can mess with the Philistines."

The Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings not yet dried, and she bound him with them. Meanwhile, the men were lying in wait, staying in her room. It's almost comical; you have to wonder how oblivious he is. "Hey, is that the toe of a Philistine underneath those curtains?" What is going on here? She said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" 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, in verse 10, said to Samson, "Look, you've mocked me and told me lies. Now please tell me what you may be bound with." He replied, "Well, if they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man." You know the old saying: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

Point number three: do not underestimate the lengths to which sin will make you stupid. Therefore, Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them. She said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" The men were lying in wait, staying in the room, but he broke them off his arms like a thread. You'd think that after the second time, he might get the point, but sin will make you stupid—stupid enough to play silly games with sin. That's a dangerous place to be.

Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you've mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with." He was inching closer when he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head..." This is kind of a weird request.

Reference to maybe having dreadlocks or something comes to mind. If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of a loom, she wove it tightly with the baton in the loom and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the baton and the web from the loom like it was no problem. I mean, he had to be one heck of a sight with the loom stuck in his hair.

Then she said to him, "How can you say that you love me when your heart is not with me? You've mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies." It came to pass that when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, some of the saddest words of Scripture here, so that his soul was vexed to death, he told her all that was in his heart. He said to her, "No razor has ever come upon my head. From birth, I have been a Nazarite 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."

His soul was vexed to death, and he told her everything that was in his heart. I think, as we're going to see what happens in this story, he didn't believe that his strength would actually leave. I think he thought, "I've got this. I can handle this." A lot of people seduced by sin think the same thing. They say things like, "I could quit any time. I've got control of this. I'm strong." I think he thought that because sin makes you stupid.

Point number four: sin's seduction will not cease until you surrender in submission. It's almost painful to read those words: "I've been a Nazarite to God in a vow to God from birth." Really? Even when you were hanging out in the vineyards of Timna, eating honey from the carcass of a lion? Even when you were with a prostitute in Gaza? "I've been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If I'm shaved, my strength will leave." And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart...

Sent and called for the Lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up at once. He’s told me everything in his heart." So the Lords of the Philistines came up, and they brought the money in their hand. They were like, "All right, fine, we’ll pay up. We got him."

She lulled him to sleep on her knees, his head in her lap, caressing the seven locks of his hair all the while, thinking, "They will be mine." She lulled him to sleep on her knees, called for the Lords of the Philistines, and they brought a man to shave the seven locks of his head. Notice this: she began to torment him, and his strength left him.

Point number five: if you play with sin, your plaything will ultimately torment you. She said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" He awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as before, as at other times, and shake myself free." You see, he didn't really think that he had crossed the line. He thought, "I got this. I can quit at any time." He believed he would go out as at other times and shake himself free, but he did not know—some of the most sad words of Scripture—he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes; they blinded him and brought him down to Gaza, the same Gaza that he had tormented and taken away their city gates. They bound him with bronze irons and fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison, like a donkey walking around in a circle, making the mill turn.

I heard another pastor preach on this some twenty years ago. Point number six: sin will blind you, bind you, and grind you. That’s what happened with Samson. Yet, I am so grateful for this: the story doesn’t end there. The story is not about Samson’s great strength, his awesome power, or his amazing character. It’s certainly not about that. The story is about God’s grace, and God is still gracious.

However, the hair of Samson's head began to grow again after it had been cut. Now, the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god. The chief deity of the Philistines was half fish, half man, like a merman named Dagon. They would have these regular feasts at the Temple of Dagon in Gaza, where they would gather together, eat, drink, be merry, and get drunk.

When they were merry, they thought, "Hey, let's bring out our trophy and make sport of him, because our god has overcome the great strong Samson." So they offered sacrifices to Dagon, their god, and rejoiced, saying, "Our god has delivered into our hands Samson, our enemy." When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead."

It happened that when their hearts were merry and they were drunk, they said, "Call for Samson that he may perform for us." They wanted to make sport of him, so they called Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. They stationed him between the pillars of the temple. Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, "Let me feel the pillars which support the temple so that I can lean on them."

Now, the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, about 3,000 men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. Samson called out to the Lord, saying, "Oh Lord God, remember me, I pray. Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, oh God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes."

Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple and braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. He said, "Let me die with the Philistines." He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. The dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.

His brothers and all his father's household came down, took him, and brought him up. They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel for twenty years.

That's a sobering story. It is a story that hopefully we learn from and make application from. How do we conclude? One clear thing to conclude with is that we need to guard our hearts and our minds against...

Temptation and the swift slide to sin will inevitably destroy you. How do we combat this? We put on, as the Scriptures say, the whole armor of God: the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, and shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We take up the shield of faith, with which we will be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one who is seeking to destroy us, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We must pray always so that we may stand against the cunning craftiness and deceitful plotting of the devil.

But not only that, we need to do what Samson did not do and flee from 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 God's strength and surrender to His lordship. It is far better to serve the Lord God than the lords of the Philistines, who will bind you and grind you. Sin is relentless, and sadly, we have had some high-profile Christian leaders in the last six months—at least four of them—that have not taken note of this reality and have toyed with it. We should be careful not to follow their path. It is the same old path that has existed for more than 3,000 years.

God, strengthen us and give us wisdom to trust in You. Amen. Let's stand together.

Father God, I thank You for the sobering story of Samson, and I pray that You would help us not to quickly forget it. It is so easy to walk out these doors and be overcome by the challenges of the day and the week, and all the different things that are going on in the world. There are so many things happening, whether it's hurricanes and devastation in the southern part of our country, war in the Middle East and in Ukraine, economic issues, presidential elections, or just the chaos of our own daily lives. The difficulties of business, the challenges of school—whatever it may be, 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, Lord, help us to acknowledge and recognize our weakness. Because when we do, we experience Your strength. I pray, God, that we would walk in Your strength this week.

Help us to walk in the Spirit, not fulfilling the lusts and desires of our flesh. Lord, make it abundant in our lives—the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and 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.