Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
Of all the forces that make a man do what he does, the appeal of the opposite sex might top the list. That was the case for Samson. Today, the sad story of how Samson was led astray, a story repeated over and over in our day.
Stay with us for more of We've Been Down This Road Before. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, today you take us into Judges, Chapter 16. There, we'll encounter an infamous woman named Delilah. And you know, Dave, as you implied in your intro, when you look at the history of humanity, you see that immorality has destroyed many, many people. And one of the warnings that we need to take from the life of Samson is that it could happen to any one of us. We all know people who have been used by God, called by God, and then of course, their ministry imploded, to use that word, because of involvement with someone who is not their wife or their husband.
What a lesson Samson has to teach us. And you know, even as I'm speaking about this particular series of messages, We've Been Down This Road Before, I want to let you know that today is the second to last day that we're making this series available for you. Here's what you do. Go to RTWOffer.com. That's RTWOffer.com, or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. For a gift of any amount, this series can be yours so that you can listen to it again and again. Perhaps you missed some of the names, or you know that there are some that you want others to listen to. Contact us today.
RTWOffer.com or 1-888-218-9337. And now a powerful lesson from the life of Samson. There are certain names that go together.
Names like David and Bathsheba, Absalom and Tamar, and Samson and Delilah. It's a story that in principle has happened 10,000 times. What's happening today will happen tomorrow. A man falls into moral sin. It's a story that is a sad story in many respects, and yet through it we do see God's undeserved wonderful grace. The story is recorded for us in the 16th chapter of the book of Judges. Judges chapter 16, where we have the conclusion really to four messages that we have given on Samson, which is part of a larger series on the book of Judges. What I want us to notice that in chapter 16 we actually have two stories about Samson. The first one takes place in Geza when Samson is tempted by sheer lust. The Bible says one day Samson went to Geza where he saw a prostitute, and he went to spend the night with her. And then the men of Geza and the people they gathered around hoping that they might be able to kill Samson when he awoke. But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night, then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate together with the two posts and tore them loose bar and all, and he lifted them to his shoulder and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
Wow. His moral lapse did not cause any limitation to his strength. The spirit of God was still there. So let me ask you, did having this affair with a prostitute, did it hurt Samson? Well, he maybe thought not too much.
Look at how strong I still am. But I want you to know today that he was hurt. He was hurt first of all morally inside that sense of emptiness and shame, that knowledge that it's not supposed to be that way.
So he was hurt because of that. He was also hurt because he appeared to get by, and that sets him up for the story of Delilah, doesn't it? Of course, in the midst of all this, Samson had to remember that he did offend God. And I want you to know today that no matter what we may think about sin, no matter how casually we may pass it off, no matter how convinced we may be that we can handle the consequences, God is still there.
And he sees and he knows and he's grieved. Well, so much for Samson and the prostitute at Gaza. By the way, what in the world was he doing at Gaza? That was Philistine territory. That's not where he was supposed to be unless he was fighting the Philistines. But Samson liked the night life at Gaza.
So that's where he was. Well, let's get to story number two. If he was tempted by lust in the first part of the chapter, now he is tempted by love. Now he enters into a quote long term relationship. This is not just simply raw lust for money.
This seems to be love. Let's pick up the story. Sometime later, he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. Now we need to pause there and ask, who was this woman? The name Delilah actually is a Semitic name, and she's from the valley of Sorek, which is the very valley that Samson had grown up in. So maybe he knew her when she was a little girl. Maybe they were friends together.
Maybe they played hopscotch together in the valley at one time. But this woman's name is Delilah, and we don't know anything about her, but knowing Samson's eye for women, we can assume that she was cuddly and playful and fun, and she had a smile that could light up a dark alley at midnight. This was a lovely woman, affectionate, caring. She may have loved him. He may have loved her.
It's one of those long term relationships that we mentioned. The problem was that the Philistines got together with her, and if she was not a lady from the Philistines, she perhaps was, but no matter what her origin was, the Philistines got to her, and the rulers, they made a proposal to her. They said, get Samson to tell you the secret of his strength, and if you do, notice it says in the last part of verse five, we will give you 1100 shekels of silver. Each one of us will give you that much.
Wow. Five rulers of the Philistines, each giving 1100 shekels of silver, 5500 shekels of silver if you find the secret of his strength so that we can subdue him. Now, maybe she loved Samson, but what are you going to do when you've got all this money waved in your face? I mean, this isn't pocket change. This is not the kind of money you can just walk away from and say it's not worth the price.
This is now worth haggling about 5500 shekels. That's amazing what people will do for money. Years ago, I read the book The Day America Told the Truth and discovered what people were willing to do for money. According to the surveys, for a million dollars, people wouldn't do too much, but for 10 million, they began to lose their minds. Listen, for 10 million, 23 Americans, according to this book, would be willing to be a prostitute for a week. Not for a million bucks, but for 10 million, yeah, we do that. 16% are willing to leave their spouses, not for a million, but you'd better believe it for 10 million.
3%, catch this, 3% are willing to give up their children for adoption for 10 million. I want you to know today that when people see money, they go berserk. They become different people. They enter into an entirely different world, and it's not a good world. It's a seductive world.
It's a deceiving world. And here, this lady has 5500 shekels to worry about. So she begins the process. And what I'd like us to do is to see briefly the steps in Samson's downfall. How did he progress until he gave his secret away? First of all, I want you to notice that he tolerates the temptation.
He has some fun with it. He says to her, well, if anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man. And so what she does is she goes to the Philistines. They give her these seven fresh cords that have not been dried, that are still soggy, and she ties them up, and the Philistines are waiting in the wings.
And she says, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And you'll notice it says that the piece of string, it snaps when it comes close to the flame. That's the way in which he just of course broke these thongs. That was no big deal.
This was fun time. Well, she goes to him, and she says, obviously, you lied to me, and this is somewhat embarrassing. And so he continues the game, and he says, I'll tell you what. He said, if anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man. So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. And then the men were hidden in the room, and she called to him, Samson, the Philistines are upon you.
But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads. So far, it's fun and games. It's lovers games. It's entertainment.
A couple of lies, but there's a lot of jovial activity. This is kind of pillow talk with this woman that he loves. But he's tolerating the temptation, isn't he? He's not saying, I'm not going to go there. He's having fun with it, because remember, at this point, he still thinks that he's going to be able to say no all the way down the line. So we now move to the next step. He toys with the temptation.
He gets closer. That's where we pick it up at verse 13. Then Delilah said to Samson, until now you've been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied. And he says, if you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric of the loom and tighten it with a pin, I'll become as weak as any other man. Samson, you fool.
You're getting close. Your strength is in your hair, not because the hair have some medical connection with your strength, but they're symbolic of your Nazarite bow. That's what the Holy Spirit was going to use as a symbol of his power upon your life. And now you're not telling her to cut off your hair, as you're going to do in a few moments, but you're telling her that she should take the locks of your head and weave it into this shuttle loom. And then you'll become weak. You're getting mighty close, Samson. Well, she does that. And what does Samson do?
He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom with a fabric. No big deal. I'm just as strong as I ever was. Wow. I want to shout at this time and I want to say, run Samson, run, run, run, run, run. Get out of there. He's in charge. He thinks he's got this, he's got this under control. He said no so many times and he can handle this woman.
Oh, verse 15. Then she said to him, how can you say I love you? And all the while he's continuing to affirm his love for her. When you won't confide in me, trust me. Why don't you believe me?
Can't you hear it? This is the third time you've made a fool of me and heaven told me the secret of your great strength. So now can you do this to me? And you don't really trust me, do you?
With such nagging, she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. Now I do have to say something less to afterwards. Somebody comes up to me and says, you know, your message this morning was very gender insensitive.
Don't worry, I know the culture. Less somebody says, you know, you know, the story gives the impression that the women are the seductresses. They're the ones that seduce the men. Well, I want you to know that there are Delilah's in this world. There are Delilah's in this world. But I also want you to know that in order to put this in balance for every Delilah, there are probably 20 men hitting on women wanting them to go to bed with them.
I feel very lonely. Isn't there a witness? So she goes to him and and she says this to him and he was tired to death. And so verse 17, he told her everything what's going on there in the text.
For one thing, Samson is saying to himself, if I don't tell her everything, I'm always going to wonder what it would have been like anyway as to what would have happened if I would have. So I'll just go ahead and do it. There's the curiosity factor. There's also the risk factor. I'll take the risk, but so far God has been with me and I've had the strength all the way along the line to be able to defy the Philistines.
They've not been able to do it. Somehow God will be there for me. So he tells her, he says, my strength is in my hair. Verse 19, having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair.
Can't you just see it? He has his head on her lap and she is patting his cheek and she is caressing his hair and whispering sweet nothings into his ear. And the Philistines come and they cut off his hair. We read in verse 20, he awoke from his sleep and thought, I'll go out as before and shake myself free. One of the saddest verses in the Old Testament. But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
Wow. God's presence was gone. You know, there are many people today who don't understand that the same principle applies. God does not leave us permanently. He did not leave Samson permanently, but the strength was no longer there.
The blessing of God, the benediction of God was gone. There are couples who say, well, you know, I can be unfaithful with this person that I found this soul mate and I can get by with it and I can contain the consequences and maybe they can, maybe it can be hidden from everyone, but you could say of their life and the peace of God departed from them. Or some of you who are living together without being married. Some people say, well, you know, we need to do that because apartments are so expensive and it's much cheaper to be in one apartment than two.
Financially cheaper, not morally cheaper, but financially I do agree. Or as we've heard a thousand times, but we're planning to marry one another anyway. I will go as before, said Samson. We will still go to church. We will still sing the same songs.
At times we will even pray. Everything will be like it was, but they do not know that the blessing of God has been removed from them. What I'd like to do in the next few moments is to summarize the lessons that are to be learned. But before I do, I need to tell you that the Philistines seized him.
The Bible says in verse 21 and gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza binding him with bronze shackles and they set him to grinding in the prison. What a story. Let's get to the lessons. Number one, no past victory is a guarantee of future victories. No past victory is a guarantee of future victories. Now let's think this through for a moment because we were introduced to Samson when he was having that relationship and that awful disastrous marriage that we preached about in the first message on the series with a Philistine woman. And so we know that he has always had that weakness, but what we forget is that say he was 20 years old when he finally matured. It says also in verse 20 of chapter 15, Samson led Israel for 20 years in the day of the Philistines. He was their judge.
This is the book of Judges. Do you realize what that means is that for 20 long years, people came to Samson to get their dispute settled. That's how wise he became. He really did mature. He really did walk with God. He was a man who really had something to contribute to society and yet in the midst of all that, I want you to notice that he fell.
He fell because no past victory guarantees a victory tomorrow. That's a great lesson to learn. You know, it wasn't supposed to end this way, was it? Samson, when he was growing up and he had this power of the Holy Spirit upon his life, this ability to be able to be just incredibly strong and to destroy the Philistines, he didn't lie awake at night and say, oh God, I have a dream. And my dream is that someday my eyes might be gouged out and I would grind corn for the Philistines in a prison.
That's not part of the dream. It wasn't supposed to end that way and it wouldn't have had to end that way, but that's the way it ended because I cannot take the victory that I had yesterday and say that it will apply today unless I am vigilant also today and tomorrow and the day after. And it does not matter how many years I walk with God. The only time you and I will really be free from the possibility of moral failure is when we die and when the preacher says all kinds of things about us that we could never possibly believe about us if we were alive.
Then we'll know the chances are over. Second, we can lose in a moment what we cannot recover in a lifetime. You can lose in a moment what we cannot recover in a lifetime. The question isn't one of whether or not you can be forgiven because Samson was forgiven and David was forgiven.
That's not an issue. But the thing is that it can never be the way it once was. I have some very close friends, three or four come immediately to mind who have fallen morally, in some instances pastors.
After they have ruined their marriage and in some instances their marriage remained intact, but after they were alienated from their children and they were reconciled to their children and time went by and their own commitment to their marriage was finally reproven and trust was rebuilt, the simple fact is though it never is the way it once was. You can lose in a moment what you can never recover in a lifetime. It'll never be the same. And nobody can predict the consequences.
That's the difficult thing about sin. You know, you think you've got it contained, you've got it secret, you have it walled in. Nobody is going to go there. This is nobody's going to find out meticulous care to make sure that it remains hidden. But nobody knows the consequences. Former President Clinton could not predict the consequences. Gary Condit could not predict the consequences. You can't predict the consequences.
I can't predict the consequences. And it is possible to lose in a moment that which can never be regained. And if Samson were here, he'd be the first to say that. You know, this is Pastor Lutzer. I really think that that slogan should be put upon our minds and our hearts. You can lose in a moment what you can never regain in a lifetime. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you can think of how the stories of many people could be very different if they had taken that seriously? If you've been blessed as a result of the ministry of Running to Win, it's because people just like you have invested in this ministry. And as I emphasized at the beginning of the program, this is the second to last day we are making this sermon series available to you for a gift of any amount.
I'm going to be giving you some contact info in a moment, but I want to emphasize that as we look through the book of Judges, as we have been studying it, as we have been hitting some of the highlights, we are learning lessons that we need to relearn individually and as a nation. And that's why we're making this series available to you so that you can listen to it again and again. Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Let me give you that contact info again.
Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember, we have been down this road before and there are so many lessons to learn from the past so that we may not repeat them in the future. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Erwin Lutzer has brought part one of Samson, Physically Strong, Morally Weak, the last of 12 messages taken from the book of Judges, all on the topic we've been down this road before. Next time, the sad ending of the life of Samson. Plan to join us. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
