Samson, Delilah, & the Temple of Doom

Lead Vocalist (Joel)

Welcome & Announcements (Sterling)

Good morning family!

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3 announcements:

1) VBS Recap (Tasha)

2) Fellowship Groups

Share something about why they’re important and who can join (i.e., non-members too!)

Register by scanning the QR code on the screen, or on the announcement wall

3) Parenting Conference

Saturday, September 7 from 9AM to 3PM

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Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Isaiah 12:1-2)

Prayer of Praise (Brannan Holdren)

Hallelujah for the Cross

There is a Redeemer

Prayer of Confession (Chuck Quilhot), Failure to mourn our sin

Assurance of Pardon (Psalm 145:8-9)

Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy

Scripture Reading (Judges 16:4-6, 18-30)

You can find it on page 254 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Sterling)

Prayer for PBC—Women's ministry

Prayer for sister church—HRF (Paul Speight)

Prayer for US—Against sexualization

Prayer for the world—Solomon Islands

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

Something was not right with Gillian Genser.

At first she thought the headaches and vomiting were just the latest signs of the autoimmune disorders she had battled for years.

But then the symptoms got stranger.

She felt agitated.

She’d wake up nearly unable to move.

Her hearing vanished from one ear.

Her muscles cramped and her speech slurred.

At her worst moments, she could barely speak.

She even lost her short-term memory and stopped recognizing close friends.

For years she saw a litany of specialists and was prescribed countless medications but nothing seemed to help.

Finally, after 15 years of suffering, Gillian learned the truth about what ailed her. [1]

She was being slowly poisoned.

Believe it or not, all of us have a lot in common with Gillian Genser.

Whether you’re physically healthy or not,

whether you’ve been around for 9 months or 900,

whether you recognize the symptoms or not,

whether you agree or not,

all of us have been poisoned.

One of the central messages of the Bible is that all of us have been poisoned by sin.

That’s a truth that is clearly taught in Judges 16.

Samson entered on the scene with so much promise.

He was a homegrown hero, a made-from-scratch savior.

He was gifted with incredible physical strength, greater than anyone else in the entire Bible.

No hero in the book of Judges had more promise. And yet, no hero in the book of Judges is more disappointing.

Samson’s life and death are a reminder that Sin poisons everything, and there is only one cure.

That’s the Big Idea I hope to communicate from our text with God’s help this morning.

We’ll do that by examining Two Truths About the Poison of Sin:

First, we’ll examine The Total Contamination of Sin, and how all of us have been comprehensively poisoned by sin.

We’ll spend most of our time here, so don’t get antsy.

Then we’ll examine The Only Cure for Sin, as we prepare our hearts to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Consider with me first...

1) The Total CONTAMINATION of Sin

If I put a single drop of deadly poison in my water bottle, would you drink it?

What if I poured out 90% of the water out first?

Nobody would do that because a single drop of deadly poison contaminates the entire bottle.

There is no part of the bottle uncontaminated.

That’s an example of something theologians call “total depravity.”

Joel Beeke explains total depravity this way: “‘Depravity’ means a state of corruption or distortion. ‘Total’ does not refer to the intensity of sin, as if everyone were as bad as they possibly could be, but to the extent of corruption, for sin corrupts every part of the human person and stains everything that we do.” [2]

Robert Letham puts it even more simply: “Total depravity means that there is no human faculty left untouched by sin.” [3]

Sin is like a poison that has contaminated every part of who you are!

And in Judges 16, we see this tragic reality on display.

From Samson’s life we see five ways we have been poisoned by sin...

A) Sin Poisons Our DESIRES.

In the 17th century, a philosopher named Blaise Pascal famously said, "The heart has its reasons, which reason knows nothing of.”

Or, as Selena Gomez sang “the heart wants what it wants.”

While it’s true that we often desire things we cannot understand or explain, it is NOT true that we should FOLLOW those desires.

Just because you desire something doesn’t mean it’s right for you to desire that thing.

The Bible repeatedly teaches us that our desires have been poisoned by sin.

Few people illustrate that better than Samson.

Sometime after killing 1000 Philistines on Jawbone Hill, Samson once again sees something—or rather someone—that he wants.

Judges 16:1—Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.

Nobody would dispute that Samson really desires this girl.

He wants her enough to travel into Gaza, deep into enemy territory.

He wants her enough to ignore what the Law said about relationships with unbelieving women.

He wants her enough to ignore the warnings of his parents, who had previously urged him not to pursue these women.

He wants her enough to ignore God’s design for sex within marriage.

He wants her enough to pull out his wallet and pay the price.

Samson wants her so much that no one will stop him from getting what he wants!

Judges 16:2–3—The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.

Samson picks up the gates of the city—which likely would have been massive—and carries them about 40 miles, up a slope more than two thousand feet. [4]

But once again, Samson is not saving Israel. He’s saving himself. He’s doing what he wants, and little else.

By his actions he is preaching a false gospel that says “I will get what I want, and the gates of Gaza shall not prevail against me.”

Samson is an extreme example of how sin poisons our desires.

James 1:14–15—But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

This doesn’t mean we always desire sin. Or that our desires are always as bad as they could be.

But it does mean our desires are polluted.

Just because you want something doesn’t mean it’s right.

We need to learn to do what Samson failed to do, we must TEST our desires by the Scriptures.

Do I want something that Scripture forbids?

Will getting this thing that I want hinder me from doing what Scripture commands?

Have I shared these desires with other godly Christians who can help me test them?

Sin poisons our desires, and...

B) Sin Poisons Our MINDS.

A few months ago a man from Ann Arbor, Michigan was scheduled to appear before district court after he was caught driving with a suspended license.

Apparently that particular court conducts some of its hearings over video, so it wasn’t that unusual for the defendant to appear before the judge using the Zoom app on his phone.

What was unusual was the defendant’s decision to be driving his car while he appeared before the court.

The judge’s first question was to ask the defendant if he was driving.

The man replied, "I'm pulling into my doctor's office, actually. Just give me one second."

Once the man finished parking, the judge laughed in disbelief. This man was appearing before the judge to answer for a charge that he was driving on a suspended license.

And he logged in via Zoom while he was driving yet again without a license. [5]

Now as much as I’d like to blame that kind of behavior on the state of Michigan, the reality is you can find people from every state and every nation who do utterly ridiculous things like that. But why?

Because sin makes us stupid. It poisons our minds.

Again, few people illustrate this better than Samson.

After his one night stand in Gaza, Samson finds another girl he wants.

Judges 16:4—After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

Now the text doesn’t explicitly say Delilah was a Philistine, but given Samson’s preference for foreign women that seems likely.

After all, Delilah seems to have a connection with the Philistine rulers...

Judges 16:5—And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

The Philistines leaders desperately want to destroy Samson, but they don’t know how.

By now they’ve figured out Samson’s only weakness is women, so they offer Delilah a deal.

Will you betray this rescuer for some pieces of silver?

Perhaps Delilah asked them, How much?

Their answer is staggering: 1100 pieces each.

Now we don’t know how many Philistine rulers there may have been in this scene, but even if there were only two this was an incredible amount of money.

The average annual wage was about 10 pieces of silver, so this was at least 220 times that amount. Maybe far more. [6]

But even more shocking than Delilah’s salary, is Samson’s stupidity.

Judges 16:6—So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”

You would think this question alone would be enough for Samson to wise up. But he doesn’t.

For days, perhaps weeks, he continues this relationship with Delilah.

Sure, he doesn’t tell her his secret right away.

But the fact that he tells her eventually—even though it’s obvious to everybody what she’s trying to do—demonstrates how sin corrupts our thinking.

Samson is an extreme example of how sin poisons our minds.

Theologians sometimes call this the “noetic effects of sin.”

It’s the painful truth that sin corrupts our thinking.

Ephesians 4:17–18—… you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

This doesn’t mean we always think sinful thoughts. Or that our minds are always as corrupted as they could be.

But it does mean our minds are polluted by our sin.

Just because you think something doesn’t mean it’s right.

We need to learn to do what Samson failed to do, we must RENEW our minds by the truth of Scripture.

Unbeliever: you cannot do this until you repent and believe in Jesus!

Christian: one way you do this is by regularly gathering with God’s people and studying God’s Word for yourself.

Sin poisons our desires, our minds, and...

C) Sin Poisons Our EMOTIONS.

In her fascinating book Bad Therapy, Abigail Shrier is out to uncover what’s wrong with American young people.

Despite the fact that American young people have more access to therapy than any generation in human history, their mental health is worse than any generation on record. [7]

Why has this happened?

One of the answers Shrier gives is surprising.

At least part of the problem is that we place too much weight on our emotions.

She quotes a emotions research from Georgetown University who says, “Emotions are highly reactive to our attention to them. Certain kinds of attention to emotions, focus on emotions, can increase emotional distress. And I’m worried that when we try to help our young adults, help our children, what we do is throw oil into the fire.” [8]

Shrier says that placing too much importance on your emotions is like standing on a swivel chair to reach something on a high shelf. A swivel chair isn’t stable enough to hold your weight, and your emotions aren’t stable enough to hold the weight of your life. [9]

Abigail Shrier is not a Christian.

But just like a broken clock is right twice a day, Shrier has tapped into something true about our emotions.

They are unpredictable and unreliable.

And the Bible tells us why. It’s because sin has poisoned our emotions.

Once again, Samson helpfully illustrates this truth.

After repeatedly lying to Delilah about the source of his strength, Samson finally decides to tell the truth.

I want you to notice how much emotion is packed into these verses...

Judges 16:15–17—And [Delilah] said to [Samson], “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

Delilah is emotional—how you can say you love me when you won’t be open with me?!?

Samson is emotional—this woman is annoying me to death!

But Samson is far too emotionally involved in this relationship to just leave, like he left the prostitute from Gaza.

He really feels something for Delilah.

So he opens up his heart to her. He holds nothing back. He finally tells her the truth.

And just like what usually happens when we stand on top of a swivel chair, Samson’s life is about to come crashing down.

Samson is an extreme example of how sin poisons our emotions.

When God asked Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry?” The right answer was NO. Jonah’s anger was not justified. His feelings in that moment were corrupted by his selfishness and pride. His feelings were sinful.

When the rich young ruler walked away after learning what it takes to follow Jesus, the Bible says he was sorrowful. But his feelings were wrong. He loved the gifts more than the Giver. His feelings were sinful!

Just because you feel something doesn’t mean it’s right.

We need to learn to do what Samson failed to do, we must LEAD our feelings instead of FOLLOWING them.

Holly regularly tells our children that feelings are terrible leaders but good followers.

Sometimes you may not feel like going to church, or reading your Bible, or disciplining your kids, or honoring your marriage vows, or any number of things.

Don’t let your feelings lead you. Lead your feelings and do what is right regardless of how you feel. And you just might find that eventually in time your feelings will catch up.

Sin poisons our desires, our minds, and our emotions.

These first three ways are all internal—who you are on the inside.

But sin also poisons us externally, in ways we can see, touch, and feel.

D) Sin Poisons Our RELATIONSHIPS.

Anybody paying attention to what’s going on in our country knows that relationships among fellow Americans are more strained than ever.

One recent study found that half of all Americans expect our country to face another Civil War soon. [10]

Whether that happens or not, the reality is we are seeing levels of hatred and division in our country that we haven’t seen in a long time.

The Bible tells us why. These divisions aren’t primarily about politics, or education, or class, or race, or geography. They’re primarily about sin.

Because sin poisons our relationships.

Once again, Samson helpfully illustrates this truth.

In verse 4, we learn that Samson really loves Delilah. Or at least he thinks he does.

But Delilah doesn’t love Samson.

Judges 16:18–19—When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.

What a tragic picture of what sin does to our relationships.

In his commentary on Judges, Tim Keller writes: “Samson and Delilah are an extreme case of using one another rather than serving one another. They say to each other: I am with you because I love you, but they mean: I am with you because you are so useful to me. . . . Samson was using Delilah to get sexual love and (probably) the thrill of danger. She was using him to get fortune and fame. It is a pretty obvious taking instead of giving, on both sides.” [11]

This is why we have conflict. We have conflict because we put our own needs and desires above the needs and desires of other people. We have conflict because of sin!

But far more devastating than the effect sin has on our relationships with one another is the effect sin has on our relationship with God.

After cutting the sleeping Samson’s hair, Delilah said…

Judges 16:20—… “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 left him.”

Cliff Hall and I used to talk about this verse as one of the most tragic verses in the entire Bible.

Samson wakes up, figuring he’s still in control but he’s not. The Holy Spirit, who had given Samson his supernatural strength, has left him.

This is a picture of what our sin does to our relationship with God.

Sometimes we say God cannot stand to be in the presence of sin. But that’s not entirely true. After all, God is present everywhere. He is even present in hell to pour out His wrath on unrepentant sinners.

It’s more accurate to say that sin cannot stand to be in the presence of God.

Like cockroaches scatter when the lights come on, sin flees from the presence of a holy God.

An unrepentant sinner will not tolerate the presence of God. He or she pushes God away!

Unbeliever: God WANTS a relationship with you. He sent His Son to live among sinners and die in their place. Will you repent and believe? Or will you push Him away?

To the Christian in the room, perhaps you’re wondering if the Holy Spirit will leave you, like He left Samson.

In the Old Testament, God was WITH His people but only lived IN certain people (like Samson) for a temporary period.

But all that changed after the coming of Jesus.

A few hours before His betrayal, Jesus said this to His disciples...

John 14:16–17—“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

If you’re a Christian, sin can poison your COMMUNION with God but not your UNION with God.

On March 3, 2021 we walked into a little office in La Mesa, Colombia. I signed a few pieces of paper and Ezekiel Cristiano became a Boutot.

SHOW EZEKIEL PICTURE

In that moment, Ezekiel was forever united to our family. Nothing could ever change the fact that he is my son. Our UNION as father and son will forever be unchanged.

But our COMMUNION does change. Sometimes Zeke disobeys me, and sometimes I get angry at him, and in both cases our relationship is affected.

If you’re a Christian, there is nothing you can EVER do to be lose your UNION with God.

You have forever been adopted into the family of God. Nothing can change that!

But there are things you can do to weaken or strengthen your COMMUNION with God.

One reason why we give you time to examine yourself when we take communion is so you can confess to the Lord the sin that poisons your relationship with Him!

Sin poisons our desires, our minds, our emotions, our relationships, and...

E) Sin Poisons Our BODIES.

R.E.M. is right: everybody hurts sometimes.

Whether it’s headaches, cancer, arthritis, or viruses, broken bones, bloody knees, or sunburn.

Everybody hurts.

Because sin is poisoning our bodies.

Maybe some of us are more poisoned than others, but all of us are infected.

Once again, Samson helpfully illustrates this truth.

Before Samson has a chance to check out his new haircut in the mirror, a group of Philistines have barged into his room...

Judges 16:21—And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.

This man, whose life was ruled by what he saw, now cannot see a thing.

Some people lose their vision gradually over time. Samson lost his eyesight in an instant.

Some bodies fade slowly over decades. Some bodies fade without warning.

Some people, like Samson, make sinful decisions that harm their bodies.

Like abusing substances, or decades of overeating and inactivity, or promiscuity that leads to STDs.

Other people work hard to care for their bodies. But every single body in this room has been poisoned by sin.

Not a believer: you’re blinder than Samson if you can’t see your own mortality.

Repent and believe while you can!

Christian: don’t be discouraged when you see the effects of this fallen world on your body.

2 Corinthians 4:16—So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Part of living in a fallen world means your body is slowly wasting away.

All of us are groaning under the total contamination of sin.

But there is hope. Even though sin poisons everything, there IS a cure. But there’s only one.

Let’s conclude by noticing how Samson’s death points us to...

2) The Only CURE for Sin

After 15 years of suffering, Gillian Genser finally realized she was being slowly poisoned.

When one of her specialists tested her blood for heavy metals, they learned she had high levels of arsenic and lead in her system.

But where did the metal poisoning come from?

For 15 years, she had been grinding up mussel shells for a sculpture she was creating.

SHOW ADAM SCULPTURE

She had no idea that mussels can accumulate toxins over years of feeding in polluted waters.

But what’s even more interesting is the sculpture Gillian was creating. It’s a sculpture of the first man, Adam.

In a sentence filled with more truth than perhaps Gillian Genser realized, she said: “Adam poisoned me.”

Before we can understand the cure for our sin, we need to realize where it came from.

The contamination of sin began when our first parents, Adam and Eve, deliberately disobeyed God.

And as a result, every one of their offspring was born in sin.

All of us were totally contaminated by sin before we ever drew our first breath.

That means that Samson—despite his strength—is powerless to rescue us, let alone himself.

The only Rescuer who can save us is one who is uncontaminated by sin.

But how?

The death of Samson gives us a clue.

Samson has been betrayed for pieces of silver, he’s been tied up, bloodied, beaten, mocked, and humiliated.

He’s paraded in front of God’s enemies as a public spectacle.

And with outstretched arms he prays...

Judges 16:28—…“O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

And then Samson pushes on the pillars of the temple of Dagon, killing 3,000 enemies of God.

Samson wins his greatest victory by dying.

But the poison of sin remains.

Samson is the final rescuer who’s story is told in the book of Judges.

But there’s much more sin to come. In fact, the darkest scenes in this book come in the chapters that follow.

Who can rescue us from all this mess?

Only the true and better Samson.

Like Samson, Jesus’ birth was foretold by an angel.

Like Samson, Jesus was conceived by a miracle.

Like Samson, Jesus was rejected by His own people, betrayed for pieces of silver, tied up and delivered into the hands of His enemies.

Like Samson, Jesus was bloodied and beaten, humiliated and mocked.

Like Samson, Jesus was paraded before His enemies with outstretched arms.

Like Samson, Jesus prayed in front of His enemies.

But Jesus didn’t pray for revenge on His enemies. He prayed for God to forgive His enemies!

Because, unlike Samson, Jesus wasn’t poisoned by sin.

He had no sin nature, which means His desires, His mind, and His emotions were NOT corrupted by sin!

So even though He was tempted in all ways like us, He never sinned.

But on the cross He absorbed all the poison of our sin, so that by His stripes we may be healed.

That’s what we remember every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Just like Samson’s hair, the Lord’s Supper is a symbol.

Samson was not strong because he had long hair.

He was strong because the Holy Spirit empowered him.

His long hair was an outward symbol of an inward reality—that Samson’s life was supposed to be devoted to God as a Nazarite.

In much the same way, you are not a Christian because you take the Lord’s Supper.

You are a Christian if you have repented of your sins and put your faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The Lord’s Supper is an outward symbol of an inward reality—that your life is devoted to God as a follower of Jesus.

And just like the symbol of Samson’s long hair was important, so too is the symbol of the Lord’s Supper.

It is no coincidence that the Spirit leaves Samson after he abused the symbol of his devotion to God.

As we’ve seen from Samson’s life, he never really took his Nazarite vow seriously.

God could have left him at any time, but he chose to leave when Samson abused the symbol.

It’s also no coincidence that when the Apostle Paul talks about the Lord’s Supper, he mentions a penalty that some endured when they abused this symbol.

1 Corinthians 11:27–30—Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

This symbol, which reminds us of the body and blood of Jesus, is not to be taken lightly.

So how do we take the Lord’s Supper seriously?

Don’t take the Lord’s Supper if you’re not serious about following Jesus.

If you are not a follower of Jesus, we invite you to repent and believe in Him today!

Don’t receive the symbol of following Jesus before you actually receive Jesus!

If you call yourself a follower of Jesus, are you actually following Him?

Have you taken the first step of obedience as a disciple of Jesus and been baptized as a believer?

If not, we’d ask you NOT to take communion. Talk with someone here about how you can take that first step of obedience as a Christ-follower before you take the later steps of the Lord’s Supper.

Are you clinging to unconfessed sin—against God or your neighbor?

If you are, we’d ask you to confess those sins, and THEN take communion.

For everyone else, this isn’t about perfection!

The text doesn’t say you have to be a worthy person.

How could any of us ever be worthy of the body and blood of Jesus?!?

But you need to take the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner.

Examine yourself, than take with joy, remembering that you have been saved by grace alone!!!

In just a moment I’m going to pray, and then we’ll stand to sing a song before we take the Lord’s Supper.

Parents, when we stand to sing, please gather your children from the nursery so we can all celebrate together.

If you need a quiet place to pray for a few minutes, or if you need to talk with someone before we take communion you’re free to use one of the rooms connected to this building.

If you decide you’re NOT going to take the Lord’s Supper today, you’re free to slip out when we stand to sing if you’d like.

There’s going to be lots of people moving around so nobody is going to be staring at you or judging you.

Let’s pray!

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Grace Greater Than Our Sin

LORD’S SUPPER

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

Amen

Benediction (1 Thes 5:23-24)