When the Lights go Out!

Introduction

"It is a riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma." In a speech broadcast October 1, 1939 that's how Sir Winston Churchill described the actions of the Russians in his day.

But what he said about Russian actions could be applied to Samson, the last of the judges, for his behavior is "a riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma."

Samson was unpredictable and undependable because he was double-minded, and "a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8).

It has well been said that "the greatest ability is dependability," and you could depend on Samson to be undependable.

Bold before men, Samson was weak before women and couldn't resist telling them his secrets.

Empowered by the Spirit of God, he yielded his body to the appetites of the flesh.

Called to declare war on the Philistines, he fraternized with the enemy and even tried to marry a Philistine woman.

He fought the Lord's battles by day and disobeyed the Lord's commandments by night.

Given the name Samson, which means "sunny," he ended up in the darkness, blinded by the very enemy he was supposed to conquer.

Four chapters in the Book of Judges are devoted to the history of Samson. In Judges 13-14, we're introduced to "Sunny" and his parents and we see the light flickering as Samson plays with sin.

In Judges 15-16, the light goes out and Samson dies a martyr under the ruins of a heathen temple, a sad end to a promising life. — BE Commentary

Today I want us to look at a message I’ve entitled, “When the Lights go Out!”

I want you to see how the strongest man in all the Bible when it came to physical strength was one of the weakest men in all the Bible when it came to his lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes.

And ultimately that lust of the eyes and his desire to please the flesh became his greatest downfall.

A man who was born to shine, dimmed by his own desires!

There is in this message before us today, a warning for every Christian when it comes to enemy we face.

His cleverness, his subtleness, and his persistence is second to none and he will push, pry and plague until he more often than not causes you to fall into the temptation and snare he has set before you.

We as Christians must always be on the lookout, with out eyes wide open, for the traps he intends to lure us into and ensnare us with!

I want us to look this morning at five different points.

1.) I want us to see Samson’s Purpose

2.) I want us to see Samson’s Problem

3.) I want us to see Samson’s Pride

4.) I want us to see the devil’s Persistence

5.) I want us to see God’s Power to Restore

Judges 13 Verse 1 if you have it would you say Amen!

Samson’s Purpose — (Chapter 13 Vs.1-5)

I want us to begin this morning by looking at Samson’s Purpose.

We find here in the first verse of Chapter 13, the same common theme that has occured throughout the entire book of Judges.

The Children of Israel have sinned against God and because of their wickedness, the Lord has delivered them into the hand to of their enemy.

This specific instance it was the Philistines and they had been under their control for 40 years.

Then the Bible tells us here that the angel of the Lord meets with the mother and father of Samson and tell them that they are about to have a child and that he should be a Nazarite from birth and then He tells them something very specific....

He tells them that the child shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

So, God’s Purpose and Plan for Samson’s life was to begin the process of delivering His people from the bondage of the Philistines.

And as I began to meditate on this scripture, some things began to come to light that I want to help you see also.

First off, the Philistines in the passage before us are but a representation of Satan. And when we get a little further on, we will meet a woman named Delilah and she is a representation of bondage and sin.

And when you begin to see this story from that context you begin to see that essentially, Samson is being sent of God to begin the processing of delivering His people from their sins and the stronghold of Satan!

You see, the story of Samson was but a picture or shadow of that day to come when the one and only Son of God would step out of the throne room of Heaven and robe Himself in flesh and take upon Himself the sins of the whole world!

Samson was but a shadow of things to come!

What was started in Samson, was finished by the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s hill and in the garden with an empty tomb!

Where Samson was weak, the Lord Jesus was strong!

Where Samson failed, Jesus conquered!

He who knew no sin, became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him!

Hanging on that cross, suspended between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ, took upon himself the sins of the whole world, past, present & future; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, taking it out out of the way and nailing it to his cross!

A man who had done no wrong, was cursed for our sin and for our sakes and gave His life to save all who would believe upon and call upon His name!

Just as Satan had thought he won we had gouged out Samson’s eyes, he also thought he had won when the Lord Jesus was slain on Calvary’s hill and laid in that empty tomb!

But praise be to God, 3 days later our Lord rose from that cold, dark grave and conquered sin, death, hell and Satan!

Just as Satan was ultimately defeated by Samson in the story before us today, the Lord Jesus Christ also defeated Satan except His defeat of Satan was forevermore!

As we work our way through the further part of this message, keep this context in the forefront of your mind and watch for the bigger picture to unfold!

Now, the angel of the Lord told Manoah’s wife that her child (Samson) was to be a Nazarite.

You may be asking yourself what exactly does that mean??

The word “Nazirite” comes from a Hebrew word that means "to separate, to consecrate."

Nazirites were persons who, for a stated period of time, consecrated themselves to the Lord in a special way.

They abstained from drinking wine and strong drink; they avoided touching dead bodies; and as a mark of their consecration, they allowed their hair to grow. — BE Commentary

God had chosen Samson before He was ever born, to deliver His people from the oppression of the Philistines.

He was to be set apart, and consecrated to God to accomplish His will in freeing His people, who had once again, because of their lack of restraint, done evil in the sight of Lord and fallen into the bondage of the Philistines for 40 years.

The number 40, if you haven’t noticed, is a number of completion.

It rained for 40 days and 40 nights when the world was flooded. Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on Mt. Sinai receiving the commandments of God. The children of Israel wondered in the wilderness for 40 years before God allowed them to enter the promised land. Jesus was in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights when He was tempted of the devil.

Over and over again the Bible speaks of the number 40 as a number of completion and here, the Children of Israel have been in bondage for 40 years and now God is about to begin the reprieve of setting them free through this man named Samson.

God had a plan and a purpose for Samson’s life and I want you to know this morning friend that God has a plan and a purpose for your life as well!

The question is though…do you know what that plan and purpose is?

People say all the time…well I don’t know what it is that God has in store for me to do.

Well let me ask you something....when was the last time you asked him to reveal it unto you?

Listen, for almost an entire year I prayed and sought God’s will for my life and just simply said, God I’m here to do your will and not my own.

Show me what it is that you want me to do!

And on November 9th, 2014 the call came and I knew deep down in my heart exactly what His calling upon my life was.

I answered the call and the rest is history!

Was it scary? Of course!

Did I have it all figured out? Of course not!

I was scared to death! I was nervous! I didn’t know if I could do it or if I’d be good at it or if anyone would even want to hear me or where I’d even preach but I knew I had heard the call and I answered and friend, once I answered, God delivered and the rest is His-story!

I was persistent in my pursuit for His will to be accomplished in my life and my persistence paid off!

Now, I want to say this before moving on. While I was waiting on God to show me exactly what it was He had in store for my life, I didn’t just sit back and keep the pews warm on Sunday and Wednesday.

Some of us are only warming the pews on Sunday and the Lord knows and you know that you need to be here on Wednesdays too but that’s another story for another day.

But while I was waiting on God to show me exactly what His will for my life was, I got busy doing whatever I could, to help the church and further my relationship with Him.

I began by asking to lead our Wednesday night Bible study.

Then I filled in sometimes as the back up song leader.

I did whatever I could to get busy for God while I waited for my answer.

And if you don’t know what God wants you to do this morning, you need to do two things...

Persistently start asking God to show you what His will is for your life.

The Bible says, “ask and ye shall receive” does it not?

Does it not also say, “ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

Get your priorities straight and ask God to show you what His will for your life is and I assure you on the authority of the Word of God, that “when you search for Him, you shall find Him when seek for Him with all your heart!”

If you have a desire to grow closer to God, I can promise you He’s not going to stop you!

2. Get busy doing something in some capacity for God!

Find something that needs to be done and get to work!

So we see Samson’s Purpose. Now, let’s look at Samson’s Problem.

Samson’s Problem

Although Samson may have been the strongest man in the world physically, he may have very well been the weakest man in the world sensually.

Samson had a weakness for women. Not just any women but women he knew he shouldn’t be messing with.

It all began with a trip one day to a place called Timnath.

Now, Timnath was located about 3 miles southwest of Samson’s hometown and it was inhabited by Philistines.

Not only did Samson travel downward geographically but he also began to travel downward spiritually. — Mattoon’s Treasures

While in Timnath, Samson sees a woman, a daughter of the Philistines, and he decides he wants to marry this girl.

He goes home and tells his father and mother and they say to him, “Samson, can’t you find a woman of your own people? You know this isn’t according to God’s will!”

But Samson’s lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes overcame his concern to accomplish God’s will.

He ends up taking this woman to be his wife anyway which turns out ultimately to be a fiasco and in the end caused her and her father to be burned to death by their own people, the Philistines!

Then, after twenty years of judging Israel, he once again makes his way into a place he didn’t belong.

In the beginning of Chapter 16, the Bible tells us that he takes a trip to Gaza and saw there a Harlot and went in unto her.

Now Gaza was the oldest, largest and chief cities of the five Philistine cities.

Yet another place Samson should have known better than to go!

Can I just say here real quickly…if you put yourself in a place you know you shouldn’t be, chances are, things are going to happen that you know shouldn’t happen!

Samson knew better than to travel to this Pagan controlled city but he did so once again because of his lust of the flesh!

While in the harlots house, some people in the town found out he was there and planned an attack on Samson to kill him but he escaped at midnight the Bible says by taking the gate and all of it’s hardware completely out of the ground and carrying them away with him!

This was the second time that a woman he knew he didn’t need to be with has almost caused him much pain and anguish!

Anyone ever heard the old phrase, “if you keep playing with fire, eventually you’re going to get burned?”

Well third time’s charm, right?

After escaping the snares laid by the Philistines in Gaza, Samson once again falls prey to a woman named Delilah in the valley of Sorek.

It is said that the name “Delilah” means “to weaken, impoverish, bring low, flirtatious."

Pretty fitting name for the story before us isn’t it?

She draws Samson’s attention with her flirtatious ways, she impoverishes him with her constant pressing and vexing for the truth, and she ultimately weakens him and brings him low once she gets what she wants.

The name couldn’t be more fitting!

A beautiful name for a woman with such ulterior motives.

It has also been said that her name could have meant “dangling curls”.

How ironic to think that the hero whose hair holds all his strength is no match for the woman with locks of dangling curls!

In any case, Samson falls head over heels for this woman named Delilah and the Bible says something of Delilah here that it never says of the other two and that is the fact that Samson “loved” Delilah.

Love will make a person do crazy things and as we will see in just a moment lust will as well!

Sadly, Samson’s love for Delilah was not reciprocated as the only thing she was interested in was the pay day that would come from finding out Samson’s secret to his strength.

The Bible tells us that the lords of the Philistines came to Delilah after hearing of her relationship with Samson and entice her to find out his weakness by offering for each one of them to pay her 1,100 pieces of silver!

At this point, her desire to grow closer to Samson was fueled by her lust for the money but unfortunately, Samson thinks her inquiries into his strength are simply because she loves him and wants to get to know him better.

Once again, his sensing of truth is blinded by his sensuality for women.

Delilah begins to inquire of Samson how it is he is so strong. He begins by teasing her and telling her things that he knows cannot quench his strength.

Look at verse 6.

Don’t you think that if someone is asking you how to bind you so you can be afflicted there may be something more going on in their mind?

Samson begins by telling her that his strength can be quenched by binding him with 7 green withs that were never dried.

She calls the Philistines to lie in wait, binds him with the 7 green withs and then tells him the Philistines are coming.

Samson jumps up and breaks them off no hesitation.

Delilah begins to start playing the poor little oh me card and asks him again.

The second time Samson tells her if he were to be bound by new ropes that had never been bound his strength would be quenched.

What happens?

You guessed it!

Delilah takes new ropes and binds him and then cries out the Philistines are coming and once again Samson leaps to his feet and breaks the ropes from his arms as if they were but a thread the Bible says.

Delilah plays the poor pitiful me card again and says, Samson you’re mocking me! Stop and tell me where your strength comes from!

This time, Samson says, if you weave the 7 locks of hair I will lose my strength.

Once again, Delilah does to Samson what he says and calls out to him stating the Philistines were upon him and Samson rises to his feet not one bit weaker than before.

Now, Delilah plays the love card. How can you tell me you love me and continue to lie to me!

I mean, you would think by this point, Samson would have gotten the hint and said, “you know what, there’s something more going on here than meets the eye”, right?

But no, he was blinded by love, lust, a lying tongue and loathing eyes and spills the beans to Delilah on where his strength truly lie!

And this time it was different, for Delilah could tell that he was being truthful.

Her plore of deceit had worked! She now had exactly what she needed to fund her retirement plan and hand the mighty Samson over to the enemy!

We all know what happened next.

Delilah waited for Samson to fall asleep upon her knee and then she called for someone to come in and shave his head and then she cried out as before that the Philistines were upon him and Samson rose in Verse 20 to go out as before and shake himself of the Philistines but some of the saddest words in all the Bible in my opinion are recorded here...

“Samson knew not that the Lord was departed from him!”

Some of the saddest words penned in all the scriptures!

Samson’s revealing of his weakness was the straw that broke the camels back.

He knew better than to divulge where his strength lie but yet he allowed the desires of his flesh to overcome desire to serve God and not only did it cost him his strength physically, it also cost him his strength spiritually for the Lord was no longer with him.

God said in the Book of Genesis Chapter 6:3, my spirit will not always strive with man!

We studied on Wednesday night about man in the New Testament and Paul advised the Church of Corinth to remove him from their congregation because of his sinful ways and said to deliver such an one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his soul might be saved!

That is a prime example of what happened to Samson.

The Lord had turned his face from Samson for all of his wrong doing and therefore his strength had also departed.

Listen, friend the Bible says, “be sure your sin will find you out” and Samson’s sin had finally found him out!

The Bible also says there is, “pleasure in sin for a season” and that season for Samson had now come and gone!

The pleasure was over and now Samson was about to experience the pain of his sin!

Before we move on to the next point I want to make something clear… to say that the Lord had departed from Samson doesn’t mean that he had lost his salvation but simply that his sin had driven a wedge between him and God and separated them.

You see, the Bible says in...

Isaiah 59:2 — But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, And your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

And maybe you’re sitting here this morning and your sin has separated you from God! Maybe He has turned His face from upon you and His ear that it will not hear your cries.

The only way to turn it back again is to confess those sins to God and ask Him for forgiveness!

2 Chronicles 7:14 — If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

The Bible says if you will confess your sin, God is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you of all your unrighteousness!

If you feel that there is a wedge between you and God this morning friend, come and talk to God about it!

Pour out your heart to God, ask Him to forgive you and I assure you He will restore that relationship you once had!

And if you’re sitting here and you’ve never had a relationship with Him, if you will simply come and admit that your’e lost and in need of saving and ask Him to save you, He will surely do it!

Samson had a problem and his problem was his lust for the pleasures of this world which for him, came in the form of sensuality.

Now that we’ve looked at Samson’s Problem, let’s look next at Samson’s Pride.

Samson’s Pride — (Vs.20)

Samson took God for granted as many of us do in our own lives.

The Bible says he woke up and said to himself I will go out as before and shake myself of these Philistines.

Samson had begun to foster an heir of pride about his life.

He had begun to rely on his own strength instead of the strength of God!

“I” will go out as at other times. The problem was this time he was going out alone!

The Bible says in...

Proverbs 16:18 — Pride goeth before destruction, And an haughty spirit before a fall.

And that’s exactly what happened. Samson’s pride and haughty spirit had removed the Holy Spirit from leading and the fall thereof was great!

Listen, there is no room in a Christian’s life for self pride for all that we are is all that God allows us to be!

If it weren’t for God we would be nothing!

I came across a little story about pride that I want to share with you to help drive home the moral of the story here.

In 1986, a man by the name of Gordon MacDonald was the president of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.

He was admired and respected by countless people throughout the Christian community. Within a year, he was a broken man. He had committed adultery.

By 1988, he was on the long road to healing and wrote a therapeutic book which dealt with his own brokenness called Rebuilding Your Broken World.

In this book, Mr. MacDonald shared an experience which took place several years before his adulterous relationship.

While on campus to speak at a college commencement, he struck up a conversation with a school board member.

After some pleasantries, the new acquaintance asked, "If Satan were to blow you out of the water, how do you think he would do it?"

Gordon replied, "I'm not sure I know. All sorts of ways, I suppose, but I know there's one way he would not get me."

"What's that?"

"He would never get me in the area of my personal relationships. That is one place where I have no doubt I am as strong as you can get."

This was the area where he fell. — Mattoon’s Treasures

You see friend, there is no room for pride in a Christian’s life for we are just like Samson…our strength lies not in our own abilities but our strength comes from above!

Now that little story leads us to the next point I want to talk to you about which is… “The devil’s Persistence.”

The devil’s Persistence

If you remember, at the beginning of this message I made mention that the Philistines were a picture of Satan and that Delilah was a picture or type of sin, right?

Delilah represents the allure of sin in our lives. We see it, it looks nice, smells nice and we think, “oh, this one time won’t hurt” but in the end, it does nothing but cause pain, anguish, heartache and strife!

But the thing that stood out to me most when studying this scripture was how the devil continued to use the one thing that was a weakness to this strong man until he finally got him where he wanted him!

It started with a woman in Timnath. Then to a harlot in Gaza. And finally, in the end it was the sweet Delilah that the Bible says pressed him daily with her words and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death!

You see, the devil knows your weakness this morning and not every persons is the same.

For some, it may be a woman. For some, it may be a man. For some, it may be pride. For some, it may be money. For some, it may be fame or fortunes.

But he knows what it is that draws you away from God most and he will use that thing to his advantage and he will put it in front of you and tempt you with it over and over and over just has he did the mighty Samson until more often than not, we tend to give in!

The Bible says that old devil is as a roaring lion traveling to and fro in the earth seeking whom he may devour!

Today, it may be you he’s after. Tomorrow, it may be me!

And he won’t stop until one of two things happen!

1.) You give in as Samson did.

2.) You fight back as Jesus did with scripture!

That’s why it’s so important to memorize and write upon the tables of our heart God’s word because in the end, it is the only thing that will drive away the throws of the evil one!

After three tries tempting the Lord Jesus and getting quoted God’s word three different times, the Bible says the devil left him!

If there’s one thing the devil can’t stand it’s God’s word because he knows in the end he is a defeated foe!

He is persistent and we therefore must also be persistent in our walk with God!

We’ve seen Samson’s Purpose (to begin to deliver God’s people from the bondage of the Philistines), We’ve seen Samson’s Problem (his sensuality for women), We’ve seen Samson’s Pride (which caused his mighty fall), We’ve seen The devil’s Persistence (an ever ongoing endeavor we must be on the look out for) and finally I want us to close by looking at God’s Power to Restore.

God’s Power to Restore

Samson jumped up to go out and defeat the Philistines as before but little did he know this time he went out alone!

The Bible says the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the prison house.

For the mighty Samson, the lights had went out! The Bible says the Philistines gouged out his eyes!

Little did they know, they were actually doing Samson a favor for it was his eyes that continued to draw him to the one thing that separated him from his God!

With the lust of the eyes no longer a problem, now the only thing to focus on was restoring the relationship that had been damaged between him and God.

They had placed Samson in prison and the Bible says he did grind which was normally was a task reserved for the lowest form of slaves.

I can only imagine in the early days following his capture as Samson spent the day grinding away in the prison his conversation with God probably went something like this...

“Why God? Why did you allow them to do this to me? Why did you leave me? Why have you allowed this evil to befall me?”

In the beginning there was more than likely some anger towards God but I believe the longer Samson ground away the more his attitude changed and I believe in the end the conversation became more along these lines.

“God I’m sorry. You warned me through my parents. You tried to keep me from sin but I would not listen. I had to do it my way and I failed. I’m sorry God. I deserved this and more if I’m being honest. Please forgive me Father for I have sinned and come short of your glory. Father, if it be thy will, please restore again unto me the joys of thy salvation!”

And I believe as Samson ground away in that prison, his demeanor changed, his pride left, and the Bible tells us that his strength began to renew!

Look with me in Verse 22.

“Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again!”

Do you see that?

That is a picture of restoration!

That is a testament to the God we serve this morning!

He may turn away His face from our sin but He will never leave you nor forsake you!

Day by day Samson’s hair began to grow back!

Then the Philistines decided they were going to have a party and show off they trophy they had captured.

Little did they know, God had other plans!

This is also a picture of the war between good and evil!

The devil thought he had won just as he thought he had won when Christ hung upon that cross but praise be to God, although the battle may have been over, the war had just begun!

The Philistines brought Samson down to make sport of him and they strung him up for all eyes to see!

Remind you of anyone else?

The picture of Samson hanging between two pillars is but a shadow of the days ahead when our Lord and Savior was crucified on an old rugged cross for our sins!

Arms open wide, Samson cries out to God one last time for his strength to be renewed and God honored his request and Samson pulls down the pillars of that place and the defeats the enemy from within!

Praise be to God, when Jesus hung upon that cross, the Pharisees and Sadducees made a mockery of Him.

They laughed and scorned and taunted our Lord knowing not it was in the tomb where the victory would actually be won!

The devil thought he had killed the one and only Son of God but when they laid his cold, dead body in that tomb and sealed the door with that stone, that’s when our Lord went to work!

They devil outside having a grand ole time, our Lord Jesus in the belly of the beast, wrestling with sin and death! And on that third and glorious morning, that stone was rolled away and from within the throngs of that tomb a victory had been won!

Satan had been defeated! Sin, death and hell had been conquered forevermore!

Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound!

The relationship between God and man that had been destroyed by Satan in the Garden of Eden has now been restored!

And now, knowing that he has nothing left to look forward to but a fiery pit, the devil spends his final days doing everything he can to trip up God’s people and keep those who are lost from coming to know the mighty God we serve!

The lights had went out on Samson but in the darkness he found the true light he had been missing all along!

Jesus said, I am the light of the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life! (John 8:12)

Samson found the light in the darkness and the question I pose to you this morning is this...

Have you?

Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ?

Closing

Samson found himself in the same position I’d dare say we’ve all found ourselves in at some point or another.

Some may even today be in the same position as Samson.

Samson knew God and believed in God but the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life had turned his heart and mind away from God and onto the world.

Instead of loving God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, he began courting the world and in the end, it caused him much pain and grief but...

What it didn’t do was cost him his salvation.

He turned back to God and cried out unto Him and God heard his cry and turned back to Samson and restored unto him his power one last time to complete the job that God had called him to do.

And there is a beautiful picture here that I don’t want a single person to miss.

It’s the picture of restoration.

You see, maybe you’re here today and you find yourself in the same boat with ole Samson.

You have allowed the ways of this world to turn your attention away from God.

Maybe your relationship with God is not what it once was or maybe your relationship with God is non existent.

For those who have been saved, I would say this…just as God restored the relationship between Himself and Samson upon Samson’s calling out to Him, God can and will do the same for you this morning if you will but come and call out to Him as well!

Isaiah 59:1 — Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

And the same goes for anyone who may be sitting here who’s relationship with the one, true, God is non existent.

If you will but call upon his name to save you, He will save you.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!

His hand is not shortened that it cannot save!

If He’s reaching down for you today, won’t you reach up and take His precious nail scarred hands?

What a pity it would be to know that those nail scarred hands were reaching out to save you from the pits of a fiery hell and all you had to do was grab hold but chose instead to die, lost and undone in your sins and be cast forever into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!

What a shame that would be.

If God is dealing with you today friend, come and trust in Him and call upon His name before it’s too late.

Move today while there’s still time!

Don’t wait until the lights go out for then it will have been too late.