March 12 2023 - Samson - Let us Remember (Judges 16) FINAL

Announcements

Just a few moments here to let you know of things going on this next week. Tuesday, we have a Senior Adult Lunch at 11:30 with wonderful food and amazing insights from the lovely Joyce Fischer on how we can minister to those later in life. I encourage any seniors to come out as it will be a wonderful time to gather together.

Also later in the week on March 18 at 11:30am we will be coming together to remember and celebrate the life of Rita Sloan we encourage you to come honor her and the family on that day

i now want to turn it over to Kerri Michael as she is going to give us a recap of the IF gathering this past weekend

Intro:

I am a huge basketball fan. Not just one team, although I love the blazers and Damian Lillard. I am also a huge fan of Lebron

However, for me, the best player I have ever seen with my eyes play basketball is Michael Jordan. Unbelievable physical attributes. With one of the highest recorded vertical jumps at 48 inches. But what made Jordan more impressive was his mental strength. When others would fall into bad habits due to fatigue. Jordan would become more focused.

His attitude toward failure was incredibly helpful in his success.

Jordan is credited with once saying ”I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” A wise man gets up again after falling down...

Today, we are concluding the story of a man with so much promise. He was foretold at birth that he would be set apart for a purpose.

And what was that purpose....to begin the process of removing those who held Israel in bondage. God had a purpose and Samson was set apart for that purpose.

And yet.....the strength of Samson is only surpassed by his weakness. He gives in to lust, taunting, wickedness, violence, anger.

The fruit of his faith is not seen really at all in Chapters 14 through Chapter 16. Instead of fruit we see failure after failure after failure

But here is the thing....failure is an event not a person. Samson was created for a purpose and while he has many events of failure....God’s grace is overwhelming and never ending.

By the end, we will see a moment of faith. But it is in humility that faith begins.

It is in humility, that true faith in God can change the events of failure into moments of redemption.

But we must remember. when we remember who we are, remember our struggle and where our help comes from

when we do that the towers and temples of idolatry will begin to fall

Jump with me now to Judges 16:1

Review:

Again, just a reminder that the book of Judges is describing Israel’s history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel’s first king, Saul. Israel embarks on the cycle of Compromise, leading to Sin and bondage. Israel cries out to God so God brings a civil military leader to rescue Israel from enemy control. There is peace…then Israel begins compromising again…and the cycle continues.

However, this part of our story is different because Israel has not cried out to God. Like a frog boiling in a pot of water, they are enjoying the hot tub of their demise. God engaged with Israel first to help deliver them from the Phillistines by setting apart Samson.

He was to be a Nazrite and that meant as we know in Numbers 6:3-7, he was to not drink or eat anything from the vine. No raisins, no grapes, no wine.

He was not to go near anything dead. No dead animals or people…not to go near anything dead.

Finally, he was to not cut his hair....a razor is to never touch his head.

Through out our story with Samson..he has ignored 2 out of the 3 vows. the dead carcass with honey…he violated this aspect of his vow. The feast at his wedding was a week long drinking feast and Samson hasn’t struck me so far as a real self-disciplined guy.

Set apart and yet, one failure after another. However God continues to use Him to strike at the Philistines.

Sinful Wandering

Samson’s reign as a judge was 20 years total. we don’t have a full account of all the events Over those 20 years

But in chapter 16, verse 1, we see “One day....Samson went to Gaza where he saw a prostitute to spend the night with her.

It is interesting that no one goes out to ruin their life right away. It is one small disobedient step at a time. Commentators describe Samson traveled roughly 35 or 40 miles on foot to Gaza to satisfy his lust....to give in to his wickedness. Proverbs 14:12

Proverbs 14:12 NIV

12 There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

40miles. Each step....Samson could have turned around. He could have said..”what am I doing?” He could have remembered who He was. But instead he focused on what his eyes wanted. That was Samson.

He gets to Gaza and spends the night with her. He traveled all that way to keep his sin in the dark, to keep it hidden. But he was noticed and the people said…

Samson is here....they surround the city in hopes to kill him at Dawn.

However Samson gets up in the middle of the night and goes out to the doors of the city gate.....he rips off the posts, the bars and the doors and lifts them up.

Samson is mocking the Philistines and humiliating them with his show of strength. Worse, a city without a gate is exposed and unsafe.

To seize a city's gate area was to control the entire town symbolically and literally. The gates represented the defense and finances of a city. Kept bad guys out and money flowing in.

Samson isn't merely capturing Gaza's gates; he's taking them and leaving. The text indicates that Samson carried it a good distance and most feel the translation says that he carried it to Israel territory. You can’t even keep your city gates in your city. All of your might and all of your wealth is for nothing.

So we have the man set apart…here he is striking a blow against them by humiliating them and weakening their defenses in a brute show of strength.

However, he is there sinning. He is there engaging in lust.

God is using Samson even as he sinfully wanders.

Sinful Taunting and Tormenting

In verse 4, we are introduced to the lovely and diabolical Delilah who from the valley of Sorek which is west of Jerusalem.

The valley of Sorek is supposedly related to a specific type of grape. This is subtle foreshadowing: Samson was meant to live as a Nazirite and being around the grapes was a no no.

Even the name Delilah has some foreshadowing here. Her name is connected with the night, with darkness. While Samson’s name mean’s sun and sunlight. Light and Darkness. Opposites attract I guess even in there names.

Samson up to this point just saw women and liked them…but here the connection is deeper. It says he Fell in love.

However, we can see right off that Delilah doesn’t feel the same way as rulers come to her and offer her eleven hundred shekels of silver each if she can find out the secret to his strength. Most likely 5 lords representing the 5 big areas. 5500 shekels. This is lottery winning kind of money.

Their relationship is built on a lie from the very beginning. Delilah is not subtle at all and asks him “tell me the secret....how you can be tied up and subdued?”

Samson responds with saying a lie “Tie me up with bowstrings that are still wet and I will be weak”.

With men hidden in the room, she says the Philistines are upon you.

He jumps up and pops the bowstrings as if they are nothing.

Again this game plays on as she asks again, you have made a fool of me and lied to me. How can you be tied up? Samson replied with new ropes. yeah..new ropes that will do the trick.

Goes through the show again with the guys hiding in the room and again Samson gets away easily.

They go through this a 3rd time....with Samson saying take the seven braids of my head and weave it into the fabric of a loom and tighten it with a pin…and I will be weak.

How in the world is Delilah still believing anything this dufus is saying? Again they go through it and Samson gets away.

Can we just stop and acknowledge that this whole scenario feels like a weird gross game that they are playing. We are not sure if this is in one evening or perhaps over sequential nights. There are men in the room hiding. How does Samson not see them? Perhaps an abundance of alcohol or some other drug is involved?

This doesn’t seem like a great way to spend a friday night with your loved one but Samson and Delilah are engaging in lies and self-deception. Not love but dangerous sinful games.

Tactic Change

Delilah changes tactics here. She says how can you say “I love you” but you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret . It says that she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

Days....of Samson struggling…playing games…having delusions that this is love. Delilah flirting and taunting with wickedness for the desire of money and power. On and On the dangerous game plays.

You have met couples like this. Couples who seem to harm one another intentionally with the way they interact. They pretend it is all in good fun..but it is not! It is a dangerous game.

Truth is told

Finally Samson explains a portion of the truth. He says no razor has ever been used on my head because I have been dedicated to God. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me…and I would become weak.

Samson reveals in this moment how wrong his ideas are for his vow was about abstaining from alcohol, avoiding dead things, and never having a razor on his head....and yet Samson leaves many of the aspects out....why? Because he had already broken those vows.

Also, notice how Samson describes his strength.....

His strength came from the Lord.....but Samson has almost removed God entirely from the equation and focused on his beautiful hair.

Samson’s Sad Moment

Delilah hears Samson’s truth and sent word to the leaders to bring their money. She then puts him to sleep and gets someone to shave his head.

Many commentators point to alcohol or another type of drug used by Delilah to make sure Samson was asleep. The text says that Delilah humbled him.

Hard to know exactly what is happening there but my take is this. Have you ever seen someone so drunk or drugged that they can’t take care of themselves. They are humbled, messing themselves, slurring their words, not in their right mind.

Delilah says for the now the 4th time. Samson the Philistines are upon you....

Samson suddenly filled with adrenaline has the clarity of his mind to think “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” Do you hear how his pride is in his speech. He will have the strength to shake himself free. I have got this.

And then we come to a heartbreaking moment of Samson....you might think it is later in this story. But it is the latter half of verse 20....”But he did not know that the Lord had left him.”

What makes this incredibly sad is that not knowing gives an indication that he did not truly know the different between when the Lord was with him and when he wasn’t. Through out his life...

......As readers we see that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson at different times but what if, from Samson’s point of view....he couldn’t tell a difference.

His lusts, his seeking of the rush of dopomine that came from sex, violence, gambling, and taunting…this is what his life had been about. The spirit of the Lord left him and he didn’t know it.

The Lord has left Samson, because Samson has now entirely violated every command given him by God.

Sinful Shame

In Verse 21, we see the last thing Samson will ever see is the Philistines grabbing him, subduing him....

Delilah most likely has fled the scene with her large sum of money. Samson now screaming as they gouge out his eyes using a hot poker to cauterize the wound.

This begins the Sinful Shame of Samson. The Philistines transport the now ordinary blind and shaven Samson to Gaza, where he recently embarrassed them by tearing away the defenses of their fortified city. by burning their fields.

That man is now grinding grain in the prison. The arrogant, selfish, unbeatable Samson is finally brought low.

For many this is there story. failed and brought low. Perhaps you know someone who is there now.

But today I want to give you good news…because God’s grace comes.

In verse 22, we see a glimpse of the grace of God as it says that the hair on his head began to grow again.

One might wonder…Why did they let his hair grow back? The answer is on how they viewed the nature of God

For the Philistines, they served the deity Dagon. If a pact was made with their God and then broken, whatever agreement was there…is now nullified. For them, the magic was gone because the magic was in the agreement. Samson was and is a failure to them and so His god had abandoned him. That was how the the pagan nations viewed it.

But that is not God.

God is relational not transactional

God continues to fight to redeem his people

He never leaves never forsakes That is our God

Samson Remembers....Sort of.

The rulers gather in verse 23 to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon giving him honor because Samson had been subdued.

After they were in high spirits, in other words drunk, they shouted to bring Samson out of the prison and perform for them.

What were they going to have him do? My thoughts go to throwing things at the blind men to see if he can catch them. Have him hold heavy things so they can laugh at the once superman who is now just ordinary. Samson’s shame is thick in the situation.

Samson asks the servant to put him on the pillars. Perhaps he is tired from performing....3000 men and women watching him being made a fool.

Samson prays “Sovereign Lord....remember me. Please God strengthen me once more.” what a prayer…

I wish that Samson would have stopped right there. It is the first moment in which Samson’s posture toward God is right!

Here we see how Samson acknowledges. Lord, all those moments of strength were from you. Just once more....I don’t need countless chances, just one more chance.

In Jeremiah we see some similar wording....Jeremiah 15:15 says Lord you understand, remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors..

Further down the Lord responds In verse 19, he says If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me. This is playing out in Samson

But Samson is still stuck on vengence for himself rather than doing what He was set apart to do.k He asks for this to avenge his eyes!

The main purpose of his life was to shatter the complacent oppression wielded by the Philistines. But the consequences of sin in our thinking can last a long time.

The Lord is still willing and able to use Samson, even Samson's bitterness and selfishness, to accomplish the purpose for which Samson was born.

Samson puts hands on either pillar.

He is sightless, broken, weak, and thoroughly humiliated.

They don't suspect that his relationship with the God is beginning to heal

In verse 30 after wedging himself between the pillars He says “Let me die with the Phillistines…pushes with all his might. The whole thing comes down....the temple and the rulers and the men and the women.

Like a solider, Samson I don’t believe was hellbent on harming himself. Soldiers don’t want to die. Rather, he prioritized the goal over his own life.

In a single moment, He killed many more when he died than while he lived.

The last sentence of that verse is another sword that cuts both ways.

With one blow he helped accomplish God’s purpose of shattering oppression even if Samson’s intent was selfish. However, Samson could have been doing this while he lived. why didn’t he pray this prayer when he had his sight. Instead he was chasing women, and violence and selfish goals.

Did you notice that in this whole story we haven’t really been talking about a general who leads an army? We have been talking about one guy!

What if he had stopped chasing women and instead inspired others to join him? What if he had ben spending his life praying the last prayer he gave?

This begins the process of Israel's liberation. God uses who he wants to do what he wants.

Thus ends the life of Samson and we are left pondering our own humanity and what God would have us do out of this story.

Application:

One of the great tools God has gifted each person with is the ability to remember. I want to ask humbly that we remember a few things in our walk with Christ .

The first thing we do is

Remember who you are

The first thing we can do as followers of Christ is to remember who we are in Christ and what we were created for. He is our Lord and we are his saved people.

Samson seemed to struggle with this. Samson struggled with humility.

Humility is agreeing whole-heartedly with the definition God has for you and your life. Your identity and purpose are all set by God for you....humility is saying ok…Lord I agree.

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

We are to remember who we are in Christ. Let God set the definition and not fight against it or choose to define ourselves and our purpose

Remember your struggle

Not only did Samson struggle with humility but he also struggled with delusion. Through out most of Samson’s life, he seemed to not understand that he was struggling. Whether it was having violence leading to more violence, to even more violence. Whether it was choosing whatever his eyes wanted to see.....Samson never admits his weakness until he his powerless.

I am reminded of 1 John 1:8

1 John 1:8 NIV

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

That term deceive ourselves.....it is not just lying to ourself....it is more like you have no basis in reality. You have lost your grip on reality when you can’t admit you weakness. You are crazy!

At the end, Samson, blind and shamed by the crowd, prays that God would remember Samson. He begins the process of coming to his senses.

He receives the power and topples the towers that held the people Samson was always mingling with. Chasing after, taunting, drinking with, interacting with.....Samson, like Israel, was looking more like the people who oppressed them…than representing the one true God.

Samson’s struggle is more in line with the whole book of Judges…Samson struggled with idolatry. His idol.....pleasure. The rush of pleasure. He wanted whatever his eyes saw. The people were doing right in there own eyes.

My question today for you....What pillars need to topple in your life? What is holding you.....from a thriving life with Jesus?

We are only as strong as we are honest with God and others. Is there weakness that you have been hiding in your life?

I am not asking for a show of hands....what I am saying....it won’t go away because you feel bad about it. Because you feel regret.

Do you have anger in your life? Resentment toward someone? Bring those pillars down.....

Do you look for a way to numb the pain in your life? And now that which helped numb is preventing you from turning fully to God? Bring those pillars down....

Do you struggle with lust? Your phone, your computer, what your eyes and mind think of through out the day? Bring those pillars down.....

Do you struggle with pride and self? Making yourself look better at the expense of others. You could help others but that would require you to give up your pride.....Bring those pillars down....

What do you need to topple in your life? Begin today asking the Lord to show you what those pillars of idolatry are in your life.

Remember where you help comes from

You might be listening today and think…well I have tried that. I have tried. I have sin that keeps wreaking havok in my life and I have tried. And failed. I have failed. I have messed up.

Remember that failure is an event and not a person. Samson was not a failure....he was a person created by God who had lots of moments of failure .

Up to this point, he knew perhaps in his head that the power was from God but in his heart, in his instincts, he believed that his hair was the magic that made it all happen.

But the hair itself was never the real reason Samson was so powerful; the hair was symbolic of his God-ordained role.

Samson lost it because he showed God that he cared more about other idols of lust and pleasure than he did about God. In that room with delilah, he tried to use his own power to break free.

As you think about your struggle, your sin, your issue....have you been trying to fight them in your own strength? Have you been relying on your own power?

Friends, your power is nothing compared to the power of God.

Psalm 118:14 NIV

14 The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.

I don’t save me, god does. You don’t save you, God does.

But here is the critical aspect.

Samson dies as the temple to Dagon falls. The attitude he had to willingly give his life For a purpose. ....Remember, we are called to do that daily! Daily…we are called to die in our pride, our selfishness....die to that which holds us back from God....

We are to die daily so that we may have life.

We are to remember who we are in Christ, we are new creations....the old has gone.

We are to remember our struggle. Stop living lies and delusions and admit our weakness. Pick up our cross daily......

Remember that that our help comes from God, maker of heaven and earth.

We are to have the mind of Christ!

Christ, who died for the sins of the world in His death. Christ who willingly toppled the kingdom of sin and death. Not for personal vengence...

He gave his life for our sins…for our struggles. For that sin that no one knows about....He died for you so that you may live and honor Him with your life.

May the pillars of idolatry fall away in your life with the power and strength of God.

Let us stand and pray together

Heavenly Father, as we study the tragic story of Samson, we are reminded that it is not by might, nor by power, but by Your Spirit that we should live, and work, and be. Thank You that these words of faith at the end of Samson’s life are recorded for us and that in his humility, brokenness, and blindness, he called to You in faith and that You heard and answered his prayer. May I call to You in faith in every aspect of my life, and thank You, Lord, that when I am faithless, You remain faithful. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

May we go to love the Lord and love others this week. May we in the strength of the Lord topple the towers of Sin that so easily entangle. And may we rest in the love of Christ.

Have a great week GracePointe.