2020-09-27 Judges 16:1-17
Notes
Transcript
I. Samson loved Samson.
I. Samson loved Samson.
1 Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her.
2 When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let’s wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”
3 But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.
A. Samson was supposed to be set apart for God. He was a man of compromise.
A. Samson was supposed to be set apart for God. He was a man of compromise.
14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.
15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
B. Samson trusted in his own strength.
B. Samson trusted in his own strength.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.
7 Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
II. Samson invited compromise into his own life.
II. Samson invited compromise into his own life.
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.
5 The Philistine leaders went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me, where does your great strength come from? How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?”
7 Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.”
8 The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them.
9 While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. The secret of his strength remained unknown.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies! Won’t you please tell me how you can be tied up?”
11 He told her, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be like any other man.”
12 Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids on my head into the fabric on a loom—”
14 She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.
A. When you flirt with compromise, you will embrace compromise.
A. When you flirt with compromise, you will embrace compromise.
14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.
15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
B. When you embrace compromise, don’t be surprised that God is absent.
B. When you embrace compromise, don’t be surprised that God is absent.
21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
III. Samson’s hair revealed Samson’s heart.
III. Samson’s hair revealed Samson’s heart.
15 “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ ” she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!”
16 Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out,
17 he told her the whole truth and said to her, “My hair has never been cut, because I am a Nazirite to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”
A. Who you are on the inside will eventually reveal itself on the outside.
A. Who you are on the inside will eventually reveal itself on the outside.
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside of it may also become clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity.
28 In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
