Quakes, Samson and Sin

I might just mention a couple of things from the Home Office before I get into the sermon. Things are doing very well at the Media Department. A couple of weeks ago, we released a video where you get to meet various ones in the Media Department. I'm not sure if you got to see that or not. It puts a face to some of the names you may have read or heard about. But, of course, we have a lot going on. Several ventures that we're in, whether it be the print media, the internet, or television and electronic media... Let me just comment on one part of that, which is the internet.

And just how well our website is doing. It was just under two years ago that we launched a new version of our site at ucg.org. We're actually now in the middle of programming another version, which will take about a year to accomplish, which will be Mobile First capable. So everything is designed with the smartphone in mind first. And then, if you have a PC, it will scale up and provide more information depending on the size of your screen or even your smart TV that might be connected to the internet.

But Mobile First is the way we're going because in the rest of the world, most young people will never buy a PC. That's old hat. And in places like the Philippines, India, Africa... those people will only ever own a smartphone. And that's how they'll connect to the internet and find out the truth of the gospel. So we're in the middle of a redesign that is Mobile First. But since combining all of our sites under one at ucg.org, we've seen some really encouraging increases to our traffic and our rankings online.

There's a rankings site called Alexa at Alexa.com. And you can type in ucg.org and see how it ranks to other websites. And there are millions and millions of websites in the world. More in the top 40,000 or so. You can narrow that down and you can compare ucg.org to other religious denominations. And if you go to religion and Christianity, then you click on denominations, Christian denominations. We rank somewhere around 15, 16 or 17, depending on the day. So of all the religious denominations out there, the Vatican, other Catholic websites, the SDAs, the Mormons...

We're in the top 15 or 16 of all denominations right now at ucg.org, which is an amazing accomplishment with the limited resources we have compared to the size of some of those groups. And it's because of the hard work, the teamwork, the programming, the content that goes into our site. And we have a content-rich website with tens of thousands of pages of material now. So almost anything anybody could search on that's biblically or religiously related, we've said something on it somewhere at some time. And people do a Google search or a Bing search, and quite often we're in the top results for that religious subject.

There may even be a comment on the news or prophecy that's not directly religious and will rank very high. So anyway, doing very well with our website, Beyond Today results are encouraging as well. We're seeing more and more people making connection to the truth through Beyond Today now on television, and sitting down and learning something when they watch the program for half hour every week.

They're learning the truth. And many of them are writing in and calling, and we'll see where that all goes. There's the old saying that you can do more with less. It's not really true. You get a budget cut and you say, now we're doing more. No, you're not. You just got the budget cut. So we are doing a little less. But compare it to what was being done by the church in the 60s or 70s or even the 80s. The hundreds of millions of dollars that were spent every year to preach the gospel, and yet what we're doing is about five million dollars or less, quite honestly, is doing more with less than in those days, simply because of the internet and the vast reach we have.

In the old days, you had to find us on television or radio or get the magazine, and we couldn't afford to send it to the whole world. But now anybody that has an internet connection has access to the truth. And of course, we get millions of visitors every year to our website. So that's just a little bit of an update for you, and we'll get into the message for the day now, because there's a famous Bible story that has stood the test of time and intrigued children and adults for thousands of years. It's the story of zeal, it's the story of sin, and it's the story of triumph.

It's also the story of a moral decline, a moral earthquake, if you will. The largest earthquake in the world was off the coast of Chile. On May 22, 1960, there was a magnitude 9.5 earthquake. Approximately 1,655 were killed, 3,000 injured, 2 million left homeless, and $550 million of damage in southern Chile. It was, as of 1960 dollars. In Hawaii, a tsunami caused 61 deaths and $75 million in damage.

In Japan, there were 138 deaths from that earthquake down in southern Chile. $50 million damage. The Philippines had 32 dead, and $500,000 damage was done to the west coast of the United States. That was the largest earthquake of the 20th century. The death toll for this huge earthquake was less than it might have been because a series of very strong foreshocks, each quite large in their own right, had made the population wary.

So they prepared and protected themselves. It could have been a lot worse. As we move into the sermon today, I'd like you to keep that idea of foreshocks in mind. Those warning rumblings, those warning quakes, those warning tremors. You've heard about the big one, right? California is bracing for the big one. They're expecting the San Andreas Fault to go at any moment, and it has moved on average in a major way once every 150 years. And it's now been 300 years since the last major shift on the San Andreas. California is bracing for the big one. They know it's going to happen. The foreshocks are there. The science of plate tectonics and seismology have advanced to such a degree in recent years that earthquakes in particular regions of the world are now somewhat predictable.

Not the exact date and time of when it will happen, but at-risk periods and at-risk regions are known. In 1975, for instance, seismologists forecast an earthquake in the Liaonong Province of Manchuria. More than 2 million people were evacuated from their homes when the foreshocks began, when rumblings started under the ground in the industrial city of Yingkao. And a little over four hours later, a massive earthquake struck. Instead of tens of thousands of deaths, there were less than 300.

Because they heeded the warning signs. They got away from the buildings. They got out of town. And 2 million people were protected. The same is true with moral earthquakes. If we allow secret faults to remain in our lives, cracking our character beneath the surface, we may not be able to say exactly when a moral earthquake will happen, but we can be sure that eventually it will happen.

Next week, next month, or even next year. As we'll see for a moment, see in a moment, as we look at the hero in our Bible story today, maybe even 20 years later, the big one will get you, if you're not heeding the warning signs of the foreshocks in your life. Because faults, where the fault lines from an earthquake, or cracks and faults in our own lives, create an unstable foundation. The Apostle Paul warned us, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. That's in Galatians 6, verse 7.

When we violate God's standards, we can be sure that we are not going to get away with it in the end. When we break God's laws, whether physical laws like the law of gravity, or spiritual laws, we will eventually have to pay the consequences. So that's what I want you to have in mind here as we go through the sermon this morning.

Because this is the story of our living bread. This is the story of putting every sin, even what may seem the smallest, out of our lives completely, so that the cracks of a moral earthquake do not take root. Because we too must avoid the San Andreas in our lives. We too must avoid the big one. God's moral laws are not to be trifled with. Break them, and eventually they'll break you. It's a law of the universe. And so that's why we're told in Numbers, chapter 32, be sure your sin will find you out.

We can't violate God's spiritual laws and get away with it forever. So the subject today is a timeless one, unfortunately, the subject of sin. But let's introduce the subject with the hero of our story, Samson. The story of Samson gives us a window into the deception of sin and how it can eventually take over a person's life if you don't put a stop to it. And in this story today, there's much for us to take note of.

There's much caution for us in the story of Samson. So I've got seven sections that we'll go through here. I've outlined seven points that focus on the danger of sin. I've titled this message, Quakes, Samson and Sin in a long dash, avoiding the big one. And as you'll see, the example of Samson is not generally a good one, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. And this is a true story, one of the most well-known in the Bible, especially by children, because after all, who doesn't like to hear a story about a superman?

And Samson was a superman. And it provides important insight into deception and sin. We must not be deceived. We must not let those cracks in our character, those four shocks that predict a major earthquake, to go unchecked. Samson is a striking biblical example of a man who suffered a moral slight. And his all-too-familiar story is told in the book of Judges. We'll be going there in a moment. He was a man who had it all going for him. He was young, he was strong, he was handsome, and he was influential. He was a natural-born leader. And so his story is one made for children's Bible story books.

He came from a good family, enjoyed all the advantages of a solid upbringing. He was the church kid of his day. Yet in the end, his life was ruined. And it didn't have to be like that. Of course, it didn't just happen suddenly. In fact, Samson's demise was preceded by years of little secret cracks, little faults, foreshocks that began so insignificant that we might be tempted to believe there was hardly anything through them.

But in fact, these little cracks in his character ran their course over 20 years, cracking his character beneath the surface. So what was it that finally caused Samson's failure? Many of us who have a casual acquaintance, the story of Samson, might be tempted to exclaim, it was Delilah, that conniving woman, Delilah. She was his undoing. And we tend to make a big deal about Delilah. And Hollywood makes a big deal about Delilah, to actually ignore the rest of the story.

Almost everything written and taught about Samson and his ultimate failure centers on her. We're all too prone to think that she was his greatest fault. The root of his downfall. But in reality, some 20 years before that, before we ever met Delilah, a few little secret faults began to run their course through the character of his life, cracking it here and there, finally resulting in a catastrophic moral earthquake. Delilah just happened to be there at the end. And it's easy even for us to slip into sinful habits, moral compromises, ethical lapses, spiritual accommodations, that we too might rationalize away some of the little faults we have, as unimportant, if we're not careful.

During the days of Unleavened Bread, during this week, have you slept? Have you had any ethical lapses? Cracks in our character, regardless of how small they may seem at first, inevitably cause incalculable damage if not checked. They can lead to a 9.5 in our life. We may deceive ourselves. So let's look at seven key points to help us be aware of the danger of deception that can lead to sin, and see what can we learn from the life of Samson?

How can we avoid the big one? We're going to turn to Judges 13 here to begin. In fact, we'll be in Judges pretty much the whole sermon, except for just two other passages that I'll reference. We'll be in Judges here for the whole sermon. There was a cyclical pattern in the history of Israel during the tumultuous days of the Judges.

The people would indulge in sin and rebellion for a period of time, and as a result, they would fall into the hands of their evil oppressors. Then in the midst of their servitude and their oppression, they would cry out to God in repentance, and say, We're always so sorry, God!

God would then deliver them by giving them a new judge or a champion, a good judge. And then they'd do well for a few decades. But then, in their newfound freedom, they'd get lulled into complacency once again, and the cycle would repeat itself. In the story of Samson, he said against this backdrop, Once again, the people of Israel find themselves under the fierce tyranny of the Philistines. And Samson's birth is an answer to prayer for a childless couple. In addition, an angel of the Lord announces that Samson will one day be a champion, a superman to deliver his people from their despicable bondage under the Philistines.

And this is in response to Israel admitting its sin and committing to God again for a period. And as you go through the book of Judges, you'll find that it's in 40-year cycles, pretty much. 40 good years, then they got complacent, then they had 40 bad years. Then they'd repent, then they'd have 40 good years again. So the nation was now repenting about to have 40 good years. Judges 13, verse 1, Again, the children of Israel did evil on the side of the Lord. So we're just ending a bad period here. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. Verse 2, Now there was a certain man from Zorah of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and had no children.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, Indeed, now you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Verse 4, Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb. And he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. So he was coming a champion that would get them out of their 40 years of bondage, and then Israel would have 40 good years, because they repented and were turning back to God.

Now, you notice the great advantages that Samson had. He was dedicated from birth. He was a true gift of God to a godly couple. He was given a special calling as a Nazarite. And he proved to be clever, strong, witty, the sort of young man destined for success in life. Who would like to have their son given this kind of an opportunity? To be a champion for the nation, to be strong. So at this point in the narrative, the nation of Israel approached about 40 years or one generation of oppression. Now God raised up a deliverer, Samson of the tribe of Dan, son of Manoah, his wife had been barren.

Throughout the scriptures, we see that God sometimes caused barren women to bear one through whom he would work. It happens a few times in the scriptures, where God performs a miracle for someone to give birth, because he has a child he wants to give a special purpose to. And this was done as a sign that God was involved from the start. This lady could not bear children. And that any glory or accomplishment of this person, of this baby, of this young man, would be to God's honour and glory, not because of anything that Manoah and his wife did.

Manoah's wife was visited by the angel of the Lord, we see here, whom they later understood to be God himself. And that is the pre-incarnate Christ, or the word of the Old Testament. This may very well have been the case. There are a number of times when God was manifested miraculously in the Old Testament. Manoah recognized the seriousness of the news and asked God how to raise the child.

And so this is the first point. Commit yourself to God. Commit yourself to God. Manoah and his wife instinctively knew that if they were to raise a son who would do the works of God, they would need divine assistance in their parenting. So Judges 13, verse 8. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, O my Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.

The parents felt inadequate to raise this child that had been given a special purpose in life. They said, teach us, God, how to do this. And Manoah and his wife were very committed to God. And this is the first step in avoiding the big one in our lives. Avoiding a moral earthquake. It's to stay committed to God.

And this is certainly the case of parents today because we live in a world that is largely lacking in godly values. We who have children today need to ask God for wisdom in the process of raising them. Do we? We mustn't forget to ask God to teach us what we shall do for the child that we have been given. And so God prepared to deliver Israel from the oppressors through the person of Samson. The nation admitted the error of its way, turned back to commitment with God for the next 40 years.

A full commitment to God and seeking his teaching, asking him what we should do, is the first step in avoiding the big one. The second is avoid the situation that precedes the sin. Avoid the situation that precedes the sin. Samson was particularly advantaged. And we were told, as we read, that he was a Nazarite from his mother's womb. A Nazarite was someone peculiarly or specially set apart for the work of God. And he was distinguished in holiness by three vows that he was to keep for his whole life. First, he vowed to never drink wine or eat even grapes or raisins.

Second, he vowed to never touch a dead body because he was to live a separated, holy life, unsullied by the curse of death. And third, he vowed to never cut his hair. And you can read about the Nazarite vows in Numbers 6, verses 2-8, if you want to check it out. Numbers 6. Each of these vows outwardly represented an inward commitment to holiness and righteousness and to God. They were intended to be external symbols of an internal reality in a person's life. When men and women saw a Nazarite walking down the street, they immediately recognized him as a man of commitment, a man of resolve, a man who had dedicated his life wholly to God.

But sadly, Samson trivialized his status as a Nazarite early on in his life. Look at Judges 14, verse 1. Judges 14, verse 1. Now Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. The Philistines were pagans. They were the very oppressors God had raised Samson up to defeat. Yet there he was, going down and visiting in the neighborhood of Timnah.

Samson knew better, but he still went. And that was his first mistake. Because remember here, point 2, we want to avoid any situations that can lead us down the wrong path. According to the story here, verse 1, he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. And right then and there he was smitten. God warned the Israelites about marrying outside of their faith. Samson was supposed to be different. A Nazarite representing God's way of doing things.

Thomas Jefferson, who was the third US president, wrote, Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it. Samson was biting at the bait of pleasure, and there was a hook beneath it, believe me. It seems that Samson was completely dominated by the desires of his flesh. Notice, he hadn't actually had a conversation with her, gotten to know her. He hadn't met her from what we can tell. He knew nothing about her except what she looked like.

Was Samson avoiding a situation in which he could slide into sin? Was Samson following the advice of the Lord regarding marital relationships to Israel? We must put God first in our life, no matter what temptations are put before us. We must avoid situations that can cause us to slip into sin too. Was Samson following the advice of God regarding marital relationships?

Anything that comes between us and our Father in Heaven is nothing short of idolatry, something between us and God. Samson was where he should not have been down there at Timna, down with a godless people, and the Philistines were ruthless godless people, down there in Timna. He was not avoiding a situation that could cause him to fall short of his calling. As we proceed, you'll see that the cracks in Samson's character, what at first seemed to be just minor foreshocks, finally explode into an unstoppable situation, a 9.5.

So as we go through this, think about what we can learn today. Think about how we can avoid the big one. And the second point I had was to avoid the situation that is going to get you into trouble. Thirdly, heed wise counsel. Heed wise counsel. Notice verse 2 of Judges 14. So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, I've seen a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines, now therefore, get her for me as a wife.

He went back home and said, Mom, Dad, I've found the one. Dad, go down there and get her for me. He was ready for his parents to begin arranging a wedding. And he, yet, it seems, had to even meet his prospective bride, let alone get to know her. And so thus we start to see some cracks in Samson's character. Of course, Samson knew better than this. He was a Nazarite, but he persisted in his obstinate commitment to his own desires. Notice Judges 14 verse 3. Then his father and mother said to him, Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?

And Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she pleases me well. His dad said, Look, son, this isn't the way we brought you up. This isn't what we taught you. And today we might tell our children, Couldn't you at least find someone who's in God's church? Couldn't you find someone of our faith who would be able to help you raise your children in the truth?

One of our sons married someone who never grew up in the church. He's a Catholic. He's just now realizing it can make the marriage very challenging when you have different religious beliefs. And here's what Samson was facing. But Samson would hear none of that from his parents. He was resolute in his worldly passion. He said, Get her for me. I know what I'm doing. I can handle this. Samson decided that he knew what was best for him. And what we see here then is that he rejected the wise counsel of his parents.

Samson did not heed wise counsel. And his relationship with the woman from Timna did finally end in a mind-numbing catastrophe. Notice Judges 14 verse 5, the first part. So Samson went down to Timna with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timna. Where did he go? The vineyards of Timna. And almost without warning, Samson comes precariously close to violating one of his basic Nazarite vows of commitment. To avoid even the appearance of evil, a Nazarite would stay clear of a vineyard. Nazarite was not allowed to eat as much as a single raisin or a grape leaf salad. Stayed away from the vine. Yet there he was, walking through the vineyard, flagrantly coming close to defiling his vow. Why go near a vineyard if you're a Nazarite? The fact is, when we let a little fault begin to spread, we are well on our way to a much larger moral earthquake. One thing then leads to another, and then we can find ourselves irretrievably on the downgrade. And Samson avoided the wise counsel of his own parents. Contrary to scriptural principles and wise counsel, Samson then married a Philistine woman, who was eventually given to another man, by the way.

He could have chosen an Israelite woman, probably could have had his pick. But Samson allowed his impulsive desire, rather than his faith-guided counsel, to control his behavior. He was lustful, and he sounds arrogant here. Get her for me! I know what I'm doing! Arrange the wedding!

What's the lesson for us today, during the days of Unleavened Bread? A little leaven leavens the whole lump. And so, Samson descended even further into sin, because he was unwilling to control his desire and submit to God. As an Azarite, he was supposed to be a cut above the rest in commitment. Next, if you continue reading the story, you'll see that he went to a Philistine harlot, and Samson was fully set now in his lust. So, a key point in avoiding deception and sin, in avoiding the big one, is to heed wise counsel, even to the point of listening to your parents, who have been around a little bit longer than you either.

Number four, replace wrong actions with righteous actions. Know what it's like with the glass when it's half full, right?

You need to put the sin out and fill your life with righteousness. Replace wrong actions with righteous actions. So, what we see here in the story, then, is a lion attacked Samson while he was in those vineyards of Timna. Verse 5, the last part, we read, Now to his surprise a young lion came roaring against him.

And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart. His one would have torn apart a young goat. So, he had nothing in his hand, but he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.

Remember, sin has consequences. We may be ingenious in our efforts to avoid those consequences, to cover up the sin, to hide it, as Samson was when he faced the lion in the vineyard. But, ultimately, even our best efforts at ingenuity are to no avail. I sometimes wonder if God didn't allow this lion to attack Samson in the vineyard as a warning, as a reminder. Stay out of here! This is not for you, Samson! It could have very well have been that God was warning Samson to stay away from the vineyard, not to go near such a place as a Nazarite. Many Bible authorities feel that throughout his life, Samson did disregard his first Nazarite vow regarding grapes and wine. Many speculate that he probably even drank wine. It's felt that Samson took only one of his vows seriously, that of not cutting his hair. Could some of these initial quakes lead to a major 9.5, you think? You know the story. Did it happen in the life of Samson? Could it happen to you, if you're not careful? What do we allow in our lives that we shouldn't? How seriously did we take this holiday season to root out all of our character flaws and faults, our fault lines and quakes, in order to prevent the big one from happening to us? One compromise can lead to the next. Samson very nearly met with disaster if God had not given him strength to take care of that lion, that says God did give him the strength. Because he was where he never should have been, doing what he never should have been doing, with someone he never should have been with.

Yet, lo and behold, at the very next opportunity we'll see, he returned for more.

It was almost as if he was winking at danger and winking at sin. And he apparently thought he could get away with almost anything, with his superhuman strength.

Benjamin Franklin, the American statesman and philosopher, he was a writer and inventor as well, said, Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden, but it is forbidden because it is hurtful. God knows what's best for us, and he tells us to avoid these situations because he knows what's best for us.

Samson was continuing in his sinful actions. There was no righteous behavior to counteract it. He wasn't filling the glass with good. He was letting more evil in. Judges 14, verse 8, After some time, when he returned to get her, this woman in Timno, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. He took some of it in his hands and went along eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. Why would he not tell his parents where he got the honey?

So we see that Samson had returned to the vineyard.

Wrong move. The brothers should be going off in his head. And when he did, he returned to visit his narrow escape. And there he violated the second of his Nazarite vows, that he would not touch a dead body.

Not until Samson touched the carcass of the lion he had slain, he actually eats from it.

Samson has done nothing to replace his sinful actions with righteousness. He continues to revisit the scene of the crime, the scene of the sin. And he's setting himself up here for a big one, isn't he?

Despite such promising beginnings, Samson showed himself susceptible to being foolishly enticed. God did not want the Israelites into marrying with the Gentiles, but Samson took a Philistine as his first wife. Samson was a Nazarite. He should have avoided any such uncleanness. He took the honey from the carcass of the lion, which would have rendered the honey itself to him unclean as a Nazarite. You can read about some of these particular laws for Nazarites in Leviticus 11 if you want to. Leviticus 11 covers a lot of these scenarios of what an Nazarite couldn't touch or eat.

In short, Samson was a hard-headed man.

But God would use that as a means of provoking the Philistines, as you know, eventually delivering Israel. Despite Samson's hardness, despite his faults and weaknesses, God did deliver Israel in the long run. One of the keys to avoiding sin is to put righteousness into our life, to replace the sinful actions and avoid a major spiritual quake. We see that Samson did not. Number five, stay close to God. Number one is commit to God. Number five is stay close to God. It has to be an ongoing relationship then, once you've promised through baptism to follow this way of life. Judges 15 tells the story of the demise of his relationship with a woman from Timna. Judges 15 verse 6. Let's skip ahead to Judges 15 verse 6. We read, Then the Philistine said, Who has done this? And what had happened was, Samson had caught 300 foxes, and I don't even know how you do that, but he caught himself, bare hands, 300 foxes. I think he tied their tails together with a torch in between and sent them off through the Philistine crops, which caused them all to burn down. The olive trees burned down, the vineyards burned down, the grain burned down. So the Philistine said, Who did this?

And the people answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Tim Knight, the son-in-law of the Tim Knight, the son-in-law of this woman's dad, right? Because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion. So Samson's father-in-law gave the girl away to someone else, and Samson was enraged. So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. Samson's marriage to this Philistine woman actually ended in tragedy, the burning alive of her with her father. Now, remember all these events we've read about today occurred some 20 years before Samson ever met Delilah. But you're starting to see a pattern, aren't you? It appears that he thought he could get away with violating his Nazarite vows without diminishing his effectiveness. God still kept him strong. He could still perform superhuman feats, carry huge gates from one city to another, burn down crops, kill hundreds of people with just their bone in his hand. And carried along by the passions of the moment, he somehow forgot that actions always have consequences. The consequences may not be immediate. You may think you're getting away with it for a while, but they're sure and certain nonetheless. And it would be two decades before Samson was entirely undone. But the stage was set in those vineyards of Timna. The cracks in his character made the foundations of his life less secure. His secret faults, well hidden beneath the surface to most people, made what seemed to be unimaginable all too inevitable. And 20 years later, Samson met Delilah. And then came the final blow. And thus, his life ended in ruin. Disasters, though, don't just happen. They're always preceded by faults. And so it is with all of us. And marriage doesn't just fall apart suddenly. It's slowly and imperceptibly undermined, usually over a long span of time. Cracks in the integrity of the relationship finally erupt into a catastrophic quake or divorce. Similarly, ethical violations in the workplace begin with small indiscretions that end in a greater devastation. We must stay close to God and avoid such things happening in our life. If we don't stay close to God and avoid the warning signs of sin, we will fall. Almost everyone has heard of the term a slippery slope. The phrase refers to some sort of process that occurs so smoothly, many times so unwarily, that whoever is on the slope doesn't perceive it until it's too late. There's a story of people that will get too close to the edge of the cliff or start going down a hill that's got a bigger curve than they realize, and before they know it, they can't stop themselves, they go tumbling down, they can't arrest their descent. Most people don't get up just one morning and think, you know, I think I'm going to have an affair today. Instead, it takes place in stages, one leading to another in a sort of a chain reaction, until before you know it, you've gone too far. Once on that slippery slope, we drift ever downward, unable to arrest our inertia, and eventually our speed carries us further than we ever thought possible. So it's vital that we stay close to God. Let's just turn to James 4 and read two verses, and then we'll come back to Judges. James 4 verse 7, Therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4 verse 8, Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

So that's the New Testament warning for us today, to stay close to God, submit to God. Resist the devil. Don't allow these thoughts, these actions, to put us on a slippery slope from which we cannot stop ourselves.

You would think that somewhere along the way, Samson would have learned his lesson. But sadly, his disappointing experiences with the Philistines only deepened the pattern of rebellion in his life, exacerbating the cracks in his character. He claimed belief in the ways of God, but he didn't act like it. He said he was an Azarite, but he didn't act like it. An expediency had made a mockery of his confession as an Azarite, and before long it also reduced his life to utter ruin. By the time Samson had the infamous encounter with the temptress Delilah, he had been reinforcing his rebellious habits for some twenty years. And during that time, the character of Samson had become so damaged and so weakened by secret faults and cracks in his character that he was unable to stop himself. And even in the face of obvious danger, he became a slave to his passions. And you can read about some of those sins in the intervening chapters. I'm going to have to judge the 16 now. We're going to skip forward a little bit. But in those intervening chapters, in chapters 15 and 16, we see that Samson got involved in prostitution, touching more unclean dead animals, and generally relying on himself instead of relying on God, who was the ultimate source of his strength. The slope had gotten too slippery, and he was on the way down. And this is what happens when we don't stay close to God. We won't see the big one coming. Number six is don't become enticed. Don't become enticed. And we're about to see what happens here in the outer Samson when he gets enticed in another way. Judges 16, verse 4. Afterward, it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was, drum roll please, Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him. We may bind him to afflict him, and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.

And up to this time, Samson had been a dreaded scourge to the Philippines. To the Philistines. He disrupted their reign of terror among the people of Israel. He put an end to the terror that the Philistines were inflicting upon Israel. And he became a champion of freedom. And now they saw an opportunity to exploit his obvious weakness for beautiful women. Judges 16, verse 6, Sir Delilah said to Samson, please tell me where your great strength lies, with what you may be bound to afflict you.

I have an interesting quote from Queen Elizabeth I. He wrote, I pray to God that I shall not live one hour after I have thought of using deception. None of us should think of using deception. Well, Delilah thought of using deception, and so did the Philistines to try and get Samson. Apparently Samson still had his wits about him, and he lied to her. Of course, not a good thing either. Delilah, intent on betrayal, proceeded to bind him while he slept. By the way, I don't sleep that soundly. I don't know about you, but anyway, I'd be feeling that. But when his attackers came out of hiding in the bedchamber to pounce on him, you've probably all seen the Wobbleton cartoon in the Bible story of them, the attackers hiding back behind the curtain and then pouncing on him, Samson surprised them all, tearing off the bowstrings and then furiously smote them.

And what's amazing here is Samson fails to learn from this narrow escape. He was so smitten by his attraction to Delilah that he remained captive to her affections. And in a very real sense, Samson went from dumb to dumber. It's the original story of dumb to dumber. But just as we do when we become captive to our temptations, so undeterred, Delilah pressed on.

At a second time, though Samson was toying with complete disaster, he kept his wits about him and deceived his lover. And once again, Delilah called the Philistines out of hiding, and once again, Samson defeated them easily. Then notice verse 13. Delilah said to Samson, Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. I'm your wife. What are you doing? Tell me what you may be bound with.

I don't know about you, but my radar would have been up by now. Every time this would happen. But he said to her, If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loop, do that and my power will be gone.

Notice how Samson is weakening. On this third attempt, he comes tantalizingly close, telling her the actual truth.

It seems like he's getting very overconfident that no matter what, he'll wake up, be strong, and kill everybody. Maybe he thought he'd get away with about almost anything.

And this is what habitual sin does to us. We become myopic in our thinking. We don't see the bigger picture, and we become enticed.

Plato said, Pleasure is the bait of sin. And Samson was one that was after pleasure, and he was being baited. Notice verse 15 of Judges 16.

Judges 16, 15. Then she said to him, How can you keep saying, You love me?

When your heart is not with me. You've mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.

That may be the oldest line in the book, right? How can you say, You love me? And so, like so many before, and so many since, Samson fell for it. Delilah pestered until finally his resistance was completely worn down, and he relented.

That's remarkable that in spite of knowing what Delilah was up to, Samson now actually told her the truth. Judges 16, verse 16. And it came to pass when she pestered him daily with her words, and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all his heart, and said to her, No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been an Azerite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.

So what's Delilah thinking?

Silver. Dozens of pieces of silver. That's what she was thinking.

Even in the midst of his collapse, notice Samson could still articulate the truth. He knew he was an Azerite. He knew he'd taken a vow to God.

It wasn't that he was doing this blindly.

He could still articulate the truth. He still understood the essence of his calling.

He could still stand and pronounce the truth in a persuasive manner. Right up until the time of the whole collapse, he still knew what he was supposed to be doing as an Azerite. But that night, Samson was made to look like a fool. That night, Samson's ruin was assured.

Delilah cut away his long Nazerite braids, and the final remnant of his righteous Nazerite commitment was shorn from his life. He'd already broken the first two parts of his vow, and now the third was shorn away.

Samson was not close to God. He didn't follow the truth in his vow, and he paid the penalty for it. And overpowered and blinded by the Philistines, he was afterwards forced to grind wheat like an animal. The Philistines took him. They put out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza. You don't know where Gaza is these days. They bound him with bronze fetters, bronze chains and a wristband, and he became a grinder in the prison.

For years, he had flaunted his power over his enemies. And now his enemies flaunted their power over him.

And while he was forced to live out his final days like an animal, like an ox, his humiliation became complete. Samson was blind. He was bound. And they belittled him.

For their drunken parties, the Philistines would bring him out to mock him, and to mock his God, the God of Israel. Where's your God now? Samson lost his strength. He lost his eyesight. He lost his freedom.

He lost his usefulness. He lost his reputation. He lost everything. But as you know from the story, it didn't just suddenly happen. It was preceded by secret faults that finally led to the biggest earthquake in history, like happened in Chile, and 9.5 in his life. What lesson is there in all this for us? Think about it here on this last day of Unleavened Bread. How many cracks are we allowing to form in our life? What are we doing about it? Are we turning to God every day? Don't become enticed by the world. Watch out for the big one. Turn away from that channel. Don't watch that movie. Don't look at that woman. Don't click there on the Internet. Watch out for the big one that will eventually get you, because Satan is a master deceiver. Here's our seventh point, the last one. Join the list of the faithful. You and I need to join the list of the faithful. In our story, we now turn to the point where we see Samson himself turning to God. Here's the lesson for us, point seven. Join the list of the faithful, because we'll see Samson did. Well, the Philistines had a great feast, Judges 16, verse 25. So it happened when their hearts were merry that they said, Call for Samson that he can perform for us again. Let's get him out here. Let's mock him. Start up the band. Bring out the wine. So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between two pillars, between the pillars. They had the man of God as they mocked him. They wanted him to perform for them. He was blind and bound and humiliated. Samson was a little more than a humorous sidelight. He was a grotesque freak show to them. So, there's 16, verse 26. Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them. The temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there. So the whole government hierarchy was there. About 3,000 men and women on the roof, watching while Samson performed. Samson called to the Lord, saying, O Lord God, remember me I pray, strengthen me, I pray just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance of the Philistines for my two eyes. Samson took hold of the two middle pillars, which supported the temple. He braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. Samson said, verse 30, Let me die with the Philistines. He pushed with all his might, the temple fell on the Lord, and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his entire life. And this final scene is well known. Samson brings down the temple by toppling those two pillars, which killed him and all the Philistine lords that were in there. Until recently, critics have thought that this is an unlikely dramatic part of the story, a myth that was just kind of embellished.

How could a whole temple be destroyed by one guy? Come on. You don't have to believe everything that's written in here, do you? Some of this stuff is kind of made up and embellished just for the story, right? Well, just this past decade, a Philistine temple was excavated in the Middle East, revealing that the structure of the temple rested entirely upon two central pillars barely six feet apart. That's how the Philistines created their temples. And given the weight distribution on those pillars, archeologists now say it would have been entirely possible for the biblical story to have taken place exactly as it was written. So it seems like the more science and archeology finds about history and the Bible, that every single time the Bible comes out on top, no matter how many times it's been denied before. The end of Samson's life is a solemn reminder that there are consequences for sin. For twenty years, Samson assumed he could ignore all of the secret faults that lay beneath the surface of his life. But he was wrong. The tectonic plates finally collided. He thought he could get away with a few minor indiscretions from time to time, but truly he couldn't. Thankfully, though, at long last, he realized that the strength he once possessed, as he was there in the dungeons, was not his strength, but God's. With all of his great advantages thoroughly squandered, Samson finally began to truly understand. He surrendered his life completely to the will and purpose of Almighty God. And this is the happy ending in the story. Look at the Hebrews 11, verses 32-34. Hebrews 11-32. Because as the saying goes, better late than never.

And now we find Samson listed in the faith chapter in Hebrews 11. This is really encouraging. We can turn to God at any time, even when all seems lost. Samson's name was, in the end, recorded in the Hall of Faith. Hebrews 11-32. What more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel, and the prophets. Verse 33. Through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, like Samson did. Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong.

Became valiant in battle, turned to flight, the armies of the aliens. So Samson, finally in his weakness, was made strong. He came to see where his strength truly came from. And he repented, and he changed. And now he's listed in the Hall of Faith. So the lesson in it for us today is don't wait for the 9.5, though, to hit you. Don't wait until you get your eyes put out before you realize this is serious stuff.

Join the list of the faithful now. Become listed in the Faith Hall of Fame yourself.

Let me just take a minute, as we conclude, to... For those of you who might be interested in biblical typology, the story of Samson offers to a limited degree a type of Christ. Let me give you a couple of the parallels. Just some of the thoughts you might want to put in your notes. Samson's name means like the sun. S-U-N. Like the sun.

And he was Israel's deliverer and strong man. Christ is, though, listed as the sun of righteousness. S-U-N. In Malachi 4, verse 2.

And our sun and shield. Christ is Israel's deliverer and strong man. As Samson was Israel's deliverer and strong man.

Samson had miraculous physical strength. Christ had miraculous spiritual strength.

Samson's conception was announced by a spirit messenger from God. As was Christ's.

Both Manoah's wife and Mary conceived as a result of divine intervention.

Samson was separated to God from conception over the entirety of his life. As was Christ's. Although Christ was not a Nazarite, as some people will argue.

And Samson's greatest victory came at his death. As did Jesus Christ's victory. Of course, there are marked differences between the two. The typology breaks down when we see Samson unwilling to submit to God for much of his life.

Unlike Christ who obeyed his father perfectly his entire life. But still, there are some parallels here as we read the story and some lessons to learn. Samson is a striking biblical example of a man who suffered a moral slide. And as we've seen, it didn't just happen. Samson's demise was preceded by years of little faults. Faults that began so imperceptibly, insignificantly, that we might be tempted to believe there was hardly anything to them. Who cares if he walks for a vineyard once in a while? Come on! But in fact, they ran their course over a period of two decades, cracking his character beneath the surface, ending in a 9.5. In his life, ending in the big one.

And so, let's each of us make sure that we avoid the big one. I love the end of the story because, thankfully, at the end of his life, he realized that the strength he once possessed was not his strength. It was God's strength.

And with all of his strength and his advantages gone, Samson finally began to understand.

We can learn from his mistakes. The Bible tells us that these examples are there for us to take note of. We can be thankful for that and take it to heart and learn from it. So, I trust that these seven points we've covered here today will be helpful to us as we strive to draw closer to God, to admit our sins, to avoid the pitfalls of human nature ourselves, to avoid the cracks in our own character, put sin out, put righteousness in instead. And let's make the most of this last day of Unleavened Bread.