Introduction:
When You Fall to Temptation (Judges 16:1-22):
- You didn't recognize your sin Tendency . (Judges 16:1-3)
- You flirted instead of Fled . (Judges 16:4-20)
- You end up a Slave .(Judges 16:21)
- You aren't Abandoned by God. (Judges 16:22)
Matthew 6:13 - And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
1 Cor 6:18 - Flee from sexual immorality.
1 Cor 10:14 - Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
2 Tim 2:22 - So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace...
1 Tim 6:9,11 - (6:9 = temptation to love money) But as for you, O man of God, flee these things...
1 Cor 10:13 - No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:57-01:02
Open up your Bibles to Judges 16 if you are not already there.
01:04-01:05
While you're turning there, just a quick review.
01:07-01:09
The past few weeks I've been talking about Samson.
01:10-01:13
He was a Nazarite from birth.
01:13-01:16
You remember there were some rules that went with being a Nazarite.
01:17-01:25
You know, you weren't allowed to drink wine, you weren't allowed to touch dead bodies, and you weren't allowed to get your hair cut.
01:27-01:33
And Samson was set apart from birth to begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines.
01:35-01:37
Chapter 14 was not a great start.
01:38-01:43
Samson married a woman and he lost a foolish bet.
01:43-01:51
Chapter 15, though initially driven by vengeance, Samson put a hurting on the Philistines, and that's where we left off last week.
01:52-01:55
It says that Samson judged Israel for 20 years.
01:55-02:01
And you're like, "Well, what did that look like?" And your Bible says the same thing that mine does. I don't know.
02:01-02:03
Very little detail is given.
02:03-02:10
Obviously, in some capacity, he ruled and guided the people for 20 years.
02:12-02:17
And today we get to chapter 16, and we meet Delilah.
02:20-02:24
And this is one of the most famous stories in the whole Bible.
02:25-02:26
And I was thinking about that a lot.
02:27-02:30
What makes this story so famous?
02:31-02:37
This story has violence and love and sex and treachery and power.
02:38-02:50
And I get to thinking about all these things you see in the text, and I thought, "I know why this story is so appealing." Whatever it is that we love about these superhero movies.
02:51-02:52
You know what I'm talking about?
02:52-03:02
Over the past few years, there have been movies about every superhero, whether it's Iron Man or Batman, or there's a movie about the talking tree and the raccoon, which was a superhero movie.
03:02-03:05
And we love these superhero movies.
03:06-03:08
And Samson was like a real-life superhero.
03:09-03:13
And his life is like one of these movies.
03:17-03:18
But Samson's story isn't unique.
03:22-03:29
Because many Christians today lose their strength for the same reason that Samson lost his.
03:31-03:35
Spoiler alert, the reason is toying with temptation.
03:37-03:41
Instead of resisting temptation, it's flirting with temptation.
03:41-03:47
It's letting your pride blind you to the dangers of sin.
03:50-04:04
And you know, I've had to make major life decisions based on how I've watched other pastors that I know lose everything because of temptation.
04:06-04:22
There are men than me that I've watched fall into temptation because they played with it instead of doing what we're going to see the Bible very clearly tells us to do when faced with temptation.
04:23-04:27
And I'm hoping today, church, that Samson's life can do that for you.
04:27-04:36
That we can look at Samson's life together and say, "I don't want any part flirting with temptation the way that he did.
04:38-04:41
Because this isn't an overstatement at all.
04:42-04:44
Samson's story could save your life.
04:45-04:53
If you're listening right now, and if you take this Word to your heart, I promise you, this will save your life.
04:54-04:54
So listen up.
04:56-04:57
We're going to go through the text together very clear.
04:57-04:58
This is what happens.
04:59-04:59
Four truths.
05:00-05:03
When you fall to temptation, jot these things down.
05:03-05:04
fall to temptation, number one.
05:06-05:07
Now how does that happen?
05:08-05:11
Number one, you didn't recognize your sin tendency.
05:12-05:15
You didn't recognize your sin tendency.
05:16-05:17
It all starts here.
05:17-05:19
Look at the first three verses, Judges 16.
05:20-05:26
It says, "Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.
05:28-05:35
The Gazites were told, 'Samson has come here.' They surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city.
05:36-06:01
They kept quiet all night saying, "Let us wait until the light of the morning and we will kill him." But Samson lay until midnight and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.
06:05-06:06
What is going on here?
06:06-06:09
Well, Gaza was one of...
06:09-06:11
there was five major Philistine cities.
06:12-06:14
Gaza was one of the five.
06:15-06:17
So the Philistines discovered that Samson was there.
06:19-06:24
So they set an ambush by the house and by the gates of the city, and they were like, "There's no way he's getting out.
06:24-06:25
We got him. We got him!
06:25-06:27
There's no escape now. We got him.
06:29-06:45
And at midnight, Samson apparently just sort of rolled out of bed, walked out to the gates of the city, and just completely ripped him out of the ground.
06:46-06:49
And it says he carried him to Hebron.
06:49-06:54
That was uphill 38 miles.
06:57-07:00
I don't even like driving 38 miles.
07:02-07:07
Samson carried the gates to the city uphill 38 miles.
07:11-07:14
And maybe you're wondering the same thing I am.
07:15-07:16
Like, why did he do that?
07:19-07:34
I mean, based on last week's story, what I would have expected was at midnight, Samson rolled out of bed, cracked his knuckles, and just laid a beat down on the Philistines, mowed them down, ripped them apart as one would tear a young goat, but that's not what he did.
07:36-07:40
And I've really, you don't know how much I've thought about this this past week.
07:40-07:42
I'm like, why did he do that?
07:43-07:45
He just like walks out to the gates.
07:45-07:46
He knows what they're doing.
07:46-07:52
He just walks out to the gates, and he's like, "I'll take these!" And he just...
07:54-07:57
Was he just making a mockery?
07:58-08:00
Was he just showing off?
08:03-08:05
Well, whatever the case, we can say something for sure about Samson.
08:06-08:10
At this point in his life, he was totally not seeking the Lord.
08:13-08:17
At this point in Samson's life, he was completely living for the flesh.
08:17-08:21
He went into the enemy's city for what?
08:23-08:25
Your Bible tells you, for a prostitute.
08:28-08:34
He learned nothing from what we've read in chapters 14 and 15.
08:35-08:44
You might be sitting here looking at this going, "How can he be so stupid?" And I would respond, "Well, how can you?
08:47-09:04
And how can I be so stupid?" Isaiah 53:6 says, "We all like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way." And here's the point, church.
09:04-09:06
We all have a sin tendency.
09:08-09:13
And yours might seem strange to me, mine might seem strange to you.
09:16-09:20
For example, when I was in college, I worked at Walmart.
09:20-09:26
One of the things I had to do was help the undercover security guy get shoplifters.
09:26-09:31
And I remember every single time that happened, I remember sitting there thinking, why would he steal that?
09:31-09:32
That doesn't make any sense.
09:32-09:34
It made no sense to me.
09:34-09:35
And I'm like, that's really dumb.
09:36-09:37
Why would you steal that?
09:37-09:38
You're really stupid.
09:38-09:41
And I didn't say that.
09:45-09:47
Just in case you're wondering.
09:47-09:51
No, I didn't say that, but I thought it every single time.
09:52-09:53
Do you know why I thought that?
09:54-09:55
Because that's not my sin tendency.
09:56-09:58
You know that same guy that was shoplifting?
09:58-10:01
He could look at my sin tendency and be like, "Dude, why are you tempted by that?
10:01-10:09
That's so stupid." And sometimes, church, we can show lack of compassion or grace for people We don't have the same sin tendency that we do.
10:10-10:11
Because we don't understand it.
10:12-10:14
We all have one though, okay?
10:14-10:16
Don't tell me you don't because you do.
10:16-10:19
You've got a sin tendency because the Bible says you do.
10:19-10:23
We all actually have gone astray, each to his own way.
10:26-10:34
We all have these areas of weakness, whether it is shoplifting, or drugs, or gossip, or you're a control freak, or it's pride, or it's lying, or it's pornography.
10:35-10:35
What's yours?
10:36-10:37
He shouted out.
10:39-10:41
But you've got to acknowledge that you have one.
10:42-10:47
And it seems that at this point in Samson's life, he just wasn't acknowledging that at all.
10:49-10:51
He's like, "I have a need.
10:51-11:06
I'm going to go to the enemy city and meet the need in the most base way possible." His story - really, Samson's story was his lust for women.
11:07-11:10
Because the whole account revolves around three different women.
11:11-11:15
And each woman was worse than the previous one.
11:17-11:25
And I'm sure we all know somebody like that in our lives that has hopped from bad relationship to bad relationship, always back with the same type of person.
11:25-11:33
You're like, "Why does he keep doing that?" Or, "Why does she keep going for the same kind of guys?" Samson was like that.
11:36-11:40
But you're going to fall into temptation when you don't recognize your weak spot, okay?
11:41-11:48
Samson was either oblivious to it, or he was apathetic about it, or maybe there's somehow it was a little bit of both.
11:48-11:52
Maybe he was kind of oblivious, and he didn't really care how oblivious he was.
11:56-11:57
How about you?
12:00-12:01
Step number one, you've got to know.
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You've got to be honest about it.
12:04-12:05
This is my sin tendency.
12:05-12:15
This is where I would have a problem if I don't seek the Lord for His Holy Spirit's power and self-control.
12:16-12:21
So number two, when you fall into temptation, you flirted instead of fled.
12:23-12:25
You flirted instead of fled.
12:26-12:27
Look at verses 4 and 5.
12:27-12:34
"After this, he loved a woman in the valley of Surik, whose name was Delilah.
12:34-12:57
And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, 'Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him, and we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.'" Okay, so now we meet Delilah, and honestly, for as famous as she is, we know very little about her.
12:57-12:58
Nothing in the text says they were married.
13:01-13:05
A lot of people assume she was a Philistine, but the Bible doesn't even say that.
13:05-13:06
Her name is actually Semitic.
13:07-13:11
We don't know a lot about her, but there's one thing you can be sure about Delilah.
13:12-13:13
She was hot.
13:15-13:16
According to Samson, right?
13:17-13:18
Remember when he saw the first wife?
13:18-13:23
That was his criteria. "Get her for me! She's hot!" And I think that was the case with Delilah.
13:24-13:28
He loved her because Samson was all about How does she look?
13:29-13:31
So I think we can safely say Delilah was hot.
13:33-13:37
And at this point the Philistines are like, "We're done with Samson." Now it says, "The lords came to Delilah.
13:37-13:38
There were five of them.
13:38-13:45
Each of them ruled a city, and they each offered her 1,100 pieces of silver." Right?
13:45-13:50
And, like, tell us how he gets his strength.
13:50-13:52
Now that's a huge amount of money, by the way.
13:52-13:55
This would have been thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars.
13:56-13:57
Like, look, we will pay you.
13:57-14:00
tell us why he's so stinking strong.
14:00-14:03
He does things that no normal human being does.
14:03-14:06
You need to find out how he's able to do that.
14:09-14:10
Look at verse 6.
14:13-14:27
It says, "So Delilah said to Samson, 'Please tell me where your great strength lies and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.' Samson said to her, 'If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.
14:28-14:36
Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
14:37-14:50
Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber, and she said to him, 'The Philistines are upon you, Samson.' But he snapped the bowstrings as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire.
14:51-14:52
So the secret of his strength was not known.
14:54-14:58
Then Delilah said to Samson, "Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies.
14:58-15:18
Please tell me how you might be bound." And he said to her, "If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I should become weak and be like any other man." So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson." And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber.
15:20-15:22
But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
15:25-15:29
Then Delilah said to Samson, 'Until now you have mocked me and told me lies.
15:29-15:51
Tell me how you might be bound.' And he said to her, 'If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.' So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web.
15:52-16:03
and she made them tight with the pins and said to him, 'The Philistines are upon you, Samson.' But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web." Stop there for a second.
16:05-16:07
You're like, "Okay, hang on. What's going on here?
16:09-16:15
Maybe I didn't quite understand Samson's motivation for carrying the city gates, but what was going on here?
16:16-16:23
What was Samson thinking playing this game with Delilah?" And honestly, it boils down to two things.
16:24-16:25
Write these down. Number one is lust.
16:30-16:37
I'm not going to be explicit here, but I believe that this whole exchange must have been sensually thrilling for Samson.
16:38-16:39
You understand what I'm talking about?
16:40-16:42
Please nod if you understand what I'm talking about.
16:42-16:43
I don't want to have to explain this.
16:44-16:46
Okay, thank you. Thank you.
16:47-16:48
Like, why do you think that?
16:48-16:51
Because he kept doing it, right?
16:53-17:01
His lust, but I think the other thing, as much as it was his lust, jot this down, not only was it his lust, number two, it was his pride.
17:02-17:03
It was his pride.
17:05-17:12
At this point, Samson was so self-confident that he must have been thinking, "So what if she does try something?
17:13-17:17
I'm Samson!" All of a sudden, I have in my mind, like, Samson's, like, from New York City.
17:17-17:19
What if she does try something?
17:22-17:23
I don't think he talked like that.
17:24-17:28
But he was at this point thinking, "Hey, hey, do you know who I am?
17:29-17:32
I've never faced defeat in my life.
17:34-17:36
I do nothing but win.
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I rip lions in half.
17:40-17:41
I burn their fields.
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You know, I kill a thousand Philistines with a donkey's jawbone.
17:45-17:48
I'll carry your city gates into the next zip code.
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That's the kind of guy I am.
17:51-17:56
I think at this point he was like, what's this stupid woman going to do to me?
17:58-17:59
Stinking Samson, pal.
18:01-18:04
Not afraid of nothing, especially a woman, come on.
18:04-18:09
I think it was just a lust-fueled prideful game.
18:11-18:13
Oh, oh pride.
18:14-18:14
Oh pride.
18:16-18:18
What a convincing liar you are, Pride!
18:20-18:40
Pride has us say stupid things, like, "It can never happen to me!" Pride has us believe foolish things, like, "I can handle this!" Where God says, in Proverbs 16, 18, that pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
18:41-18:42
Look at verse 15.
18:44-18:50
"And she said to him, 'How can you say, "I love you," when your heart is not with me?
18:51-19:05
You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.' And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.
19:06-19:16
And he told her all his heart "I said to her, 'A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb.
19:16-19:25
If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.'" So, stop there.
19:25-19:41
Delilah just persisted and persisted and persisted, and she wore him down to the point that the Bible says, because his soul was vexed to death.
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Now husbands in the room, put up your hand if you understand what Samson was experiencing right now.
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This is a smart room for those watching online.
19:57-20:03
Not a hand went up, but instead a terrified look and little beads of sweat I see on men's heads right now.
20:05-20:09
husbands, we know.
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I mean, not me.
20:13-20:14
I don't know.
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You might.
20:16-20:16
You might know.
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Next to death?
20:20-20:22
Why would you stop asking me?
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I'll tell you if you stop asking me.
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And then Samson-- Samson, he just told her.
20:33-20:33
Like, what?
20:34-20:38
He just told her.
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I want you to write this down so you have a witness against yourself.
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Sin always makes us into a fool.
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When you're playing with sin, when you're playing with temptation, write this down.
20:55-20:58
Sin always makes us a fool.
21:02-21:06
I saw a video a year or two ago.
21:08-21:09
It was a video of these people.
21:09-21:11
They were just taking it with their phone, you could tell.
21:13-21:15
It was just one of these numbers, okay?
21:16-21:17
It wasn't like a production.
21:17-21:18
Home videos.
21:18-21:21
And they sort of mashed a bunch of them together, these videos.
21:21-21:26
But in these videos, these people had this little yippy dog, okay?
21:27-21:28
You know the kind I'm talking about.
21:28-21:29
These little yippy dogs.
21:30-21:34
about this big, but they think they're Rottweilers, you know what I'm talking about?
21:35-21:35
[imitates dog barking]
21:36-21:37
You know what I'm talking about?
21:38-21:39
If you don't, I can keep doing that.
21:40-21:43
These little dogs, they think they're Rottweilers.
21:44-21:46
Well, in this video, okay, these people recorded...
21:47-21:52
These people, they must have lived in Florida or something, but an alligator comes up on their property.
21:54-21:56
And little yippy dog runs up to the alligator.
21:57-21:57
[imitates dog barking]
21:58-23:23
And the alligator turns around and slithers off and you hear the people recording Next video same thing different location same thing here comes an alligator slithering up here comes scruffles or whatever off-camera And everybody's like The alligator turns around, slithers away, and I go "ha ha, ha ha, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, scruffles, ha ha ha, ha ha ha!" Next video, same thing, different location, here comes a gator, here comes a scruffle, "ha ha ha, ha ha grabs the dog, slithers into the pond with the dog in its mouth, and the people "Oh my gosh!" and you just hear screaming and crying and I'm a dog person and I was like "Ahh! Who sent me this video?" I don't know the people that recorded that.
23:25-23:27
But I'll tell you, I do know some things for a fact.
23:29-23:41
The first time they saw Scruffles run up to the alligator, the very first time they saw that happen, I don't think his name was Scruffles, but I sure would be happy if it was.
23:44-23:49
The very first time they saw that happen, I'm sure there was a moment of sheer terror.
23:50-23:52
"Oh my gosh, our little dog!
23:52-24:02
Our little dog is going to get eaten by a gator!" And then when the dog barked and it scared the gator, and then when they saw that happen over and over, it became a joke!
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"He he he he he!
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Look at our little dog scaring away the big monster!
24:06-24:10
He he he he!" It was this huge joke!
24:13-24:18
But then, It was one time too many for scruffles, wasn't it?
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I want you to hear me, church.
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The worst thing that can happen to you is you sin and you get away with it.
24:33-24:34
That's the worst thing that can happen.
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Is you commit your favorite sin, you give in to temptation, and you get away with it.
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No one knew.
24:46-24:47
There are no repercussions.
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I'm in the clear.
24:51-25:01
That is the worst thing that can happen, because when that does, suddenly, you are scruffles.
25:03-25:06
You're the yippee dog barking at the alligator.
25:09-25:10
I know it was so funny.
25:11-25:12
It's so enjoyable.
25:16-25:17
One time too many.
25:17-25:19
And that's exactly what happened to Samson.
25:19-25:20
Look at verse 18.
25:21-25:28
It says, "When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, he sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, 'Come up again!
25:29-25:35
For he has told me all his heart!' And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.
25:35-25:42
She made him sleep on her knees, and she called a man and had him shave off and the seven locks of his head.
25:43-25:46
Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.
25:48-26:04
And she said, "My Philistines are upon you, Samson." And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free!" But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
26:05-26:10
And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles.
26:13-26:20
For 40 years about, Samson kept one part of his vow, and that was the hair.
26:22-26:28
That you could say, well, he trusted God in that, despite all of his other failings, he trusted God with the hair thing.
26:31-26:35
Now, understand, his hair wasn't magic hair, right?
26:35-26:36
I think we understand that.
26:37-26:39
It was a sign of his separation.
26:40-26:45
And if his hair was gone, that was a sign that he had just completely crumbled.
26:45-26:49
That was a sign that he had completely abandoned the calling.
26:49-26:52
The last little thing that he was holding onto, gone.
26:54-26:55
It was a sign.
26:56-27:00
That's why verse 20 is the saddest verse in the whole Bible, truly.
27:00-27:16
It says, "But he did not know that the Lord had left him." Samson's relationship with God became so unimportant to him at this moment, that Samson didn't even realize that the Spirit had left him.
27:16-27:24
Now, listen, if you are in Christ, you cannot lose the Holy Spirit.
27:24-27:27
We live under the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant.
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But, even under the New Covenant, you can quench the Holy Spirit, and you can run out in the futility of your own power, not realizing you're operating according to the flesh instead of according to the power of God's Holy Spirit.
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What's the way people say it now?
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They say, "You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes." Well, Samson played a really stupid game, and Samson hit the stupid jackpot.
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So how about you? You want to play?
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You want to play a game of temptation? How about it? You want to play?
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At this moment, Pastor Jeff, I do not want to play with temptation.
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So what do I do when I'm faced with temptation?
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What do I do?
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I recognize my sin tendency and I'm facing temptation.
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What do I do?
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I'm not going to tell you what to do. You're going to tell me.
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We're going to test your Bible study skills.
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You ready?
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We're going to look at some verses.
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1 Corinthians 6.18 says, "Flee from sexual immorality." 1 Corinthians 10.14 says, "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." 2 Timothy 2.22 says, "So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace." 1 Timothy 6.11, he just got done talking about the temptation to love money in verse 9.
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In verse 11, he says, "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things." So you tell me, when you take a little drive-by of God's Word, what does the Bible tell you to do when you're faced with temptation?
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Say it.
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Flee!
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You flee!
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Your only hope of defeating temptation is getting away from it.
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And the only way you can win this fight is by not showing up.
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1 Corinthians 10.13 says, look at this, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
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God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.
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But with the temptation, He will also provide..." Look at this.
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What does God provide?
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The way of escape that you may be able to endure.
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You have to notice this.
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If you didn't hear a single other thing I said today, you have to hear this.
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When it comes to temptation, God does not provide you power to fight temptation.
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God does not provide you wisdom to outsmart temptation.
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What God provides is a path to escape temptation.
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That's how He works.
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That's what He's called you to do.
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Not fight it, not outsmart it, get the heck away from it.
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That's what God has called you to do when you're faced with temptation.
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So know your weakness and get out of there.
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Any area, any context, any scenario where you think you might get tempted, we take the wide path.
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Stay away from that.
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Two more.
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I promise they're not as long as the second one.
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Number three, when you fall into temptation, you end up a slave.
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You end up a slave.
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Look at verse 21 again.
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"And Philistine seized him and gouged out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles.
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He ground at the mill in the prison." Back to Gaza. Full circle, right?
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That's the place where he went after the prostitute.
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Now he's back, but this time he's a blind prisoner and he's doing slave work.
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And I think we can easily, obviously see God did not fail Samson.
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Samson failed himself, because he chose the flesh over following God.
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Samson could trash people by the thousands.
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But he couldn't defeat his own lust and his own pride.
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And he reaped his own consequences.
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On one hand, you could say, "Well, I ain't got what he deserved." But I've got to be honest with you, at the same time, I sort of feel pity for Samson.
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So much regret.
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Sin always looks so good.
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It's always so much fun.
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But for a very short time.
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The pain comes.
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The pain and the regret.
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Can you imagine showing up to this prison and saying, "Samson, was she worth it?
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Was Delilah worth it?
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Was it worth playing your silly little sensual game with her?
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Was it worth it, Samson?
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How about you? Was it worth it?
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Whatever sin you might be toying with, is it worth the physical pain?
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Is it worth the relationships it's going to cost?
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Is it worth the job that it's going to cost?
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Is it worth the shame and regret that people are going to attach your name to?
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Is it worth ruining your testimony?
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For what? A few seconds of pleasure?
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Falling to temptation is not like jumping off a cliff.
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You know that.
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It's more like sledding down a really steep slope.
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Just picking up speed down the slope, picking up speed faster and faster and faster.
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And there's only one way this ride is ending, and that is with a crash.
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And you've got to jump off the sled to prevent the damage.
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And the earlier you jump off, the better.
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The same with temptation.
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The earlier you flee, the better, the easier.
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You know, Samson, let's talk about his sin for a minute, which I'm sure many of us share.
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In some way, shape, or form, lust, sensual sin.
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Let's talk about having an affair.
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When someone has an affair, you realize they didn't just wake up one day magically in the wrong bed.
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Like, "How did I get here? Wow, you're here." That doesn't happen.
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It starts with emails or texts or phone calls down the slope, down the slope, down the slope.
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And I've got to ask you, at what point in that temptation scenario is it easier to stop?
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At what point?
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Is it easier to stop when the texts are going back and forth or when you're in the person's bedroom?
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Or maybe it's drug addiction.
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At what point is it easier to stop?
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Saying no before the first hit, or saying no when your body has become accustomed to it and you feel like you have to have it?
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At which point is it easier to say no?
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That's why you need to stop now.
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Get on your knees and cry out to the Lord for help and making the break now.
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Make the radical move to jump off the sled now.
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Because, like Samson, it only gets harder to break away the further down the hill you go and the consequences only get worse.
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Like Samson, you'll end up asleep.
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How did I get here?
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You didn't jump off the sled when you saw there were problems.
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That's how you got here.
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Who's up for some good news?
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All in favor?
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Okay.
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Number four.
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When you fall into temptation, you aren't abandoned by God.
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Oh, this is greatness.
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This is greatness.
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You aren't abandoned by God.
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You aren't.
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Because look at verse 22.
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It says, "But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved." And somebody might read that and be like, "His hair started to grow again "Pastor, I've been shaved." "That ain't nothing too profound, Pastor Jeff, because that happens to everybody." You know, my wife shaved her legs and the hair started growing back.
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I shaved my son's head, the hair started growing back.
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And you're saying this is some...
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Look, there's a much deeper significance here.
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Samson broke the vow, but do you know why this verse is in here?
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It's showing that Samson's starting over.
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You can too.
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God was beginning to restore Samson, and despite everything that happened, despite the women, the prostitutes, the violence, and everything, the foolishness, despite everything that happened, God didn't abandon him.
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Debates.
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If you're sitting here and you're like, you know what?
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I'm like Samson, Pastor Jeff, I took the bait of temptation, and I am stuck now, and I have made a mess of my life!
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And I want to tell you something.
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God is not done with you.
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He is not.
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Because Jesus Christ, about 2,000 years ago, died on that cross.
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And when Jesus Christ was on that cross, He took our sin and our shame on Himself.
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God was giving Jesus the punishment that I deserve and that you deserve, so that we can be forgiven and restored.
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And if there's anything the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about, it's about starting over.
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And I stand before you today, church, listen, my confidence is not in me not failing God, He says, "I will. My confidence is in the truth that God will never fail me.
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He won't let go of me." So maybe you failed.
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Your hair can grow again.
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You can start over.
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This isn't the end of Samson's story.
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It doesn't have to be the end of yours either.
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As our worship team comes forward, I just want to share with you one more verse.
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Can I do one more verse?
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Matthew 6.13.
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Jesus, He was teaching us how to pray.
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And we've said the Lord's Prayer so many times, sometimes we sort of don't think about the words, but I want you to stop for just a second this morning.
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I want you to think about the words.
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Jesus said when we pray, we should pray, "Lead us not into temptation." Just think about that for a second.
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You know, I would have expected Jesus to say something like, "Lead us not into sin." That's not what He said.
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Do you notice how He took it back a step?
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To say, "When you pray, ask the Father to not even lead you into a scenario where you might be tempted.
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Help me to have the discernment to avoid where I might put myself in a position to be tempted.
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Because God, I don't want to dishonor You.
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Please, God, can You help me even keep away from being tempted?
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And with Samson's story as our warning, I just want to close the sermon here just asking us to join together to pray that.
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This.
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Would you bow your heads with me please?
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Father in heaven, we come before You now.
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And this is kind of a sad story we looked at today, watching self-destruction.
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But it's not the end of His story.
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Father, we need to be reminded of this, that because of Jesus Christ, it's not the end of ours either.
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Father, today simply we want to pray as our Lord taught us to pray.
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Jesus told us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation." And God, we don't just want these to be words that we recite because we memorized them.
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We want these to be words that we embrace to say, "God, I know that if I'm put in a position where I'm tempted, it is very likely that I'm going to sin." Father, I pray that You would give me discernment to avoid places and situations where I might even be tempted to sin, because God, I don't want to dishonor You.
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Father, if in my foolishness or my stupidity I end up in those places, I pray for myself and for my brothers and sisters here that You would give us the faith and the courage to flee.
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Thank You, Father, for not only the warning You've given us in Your Word, but also the great encouragement.
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We love You, Father, and now we want to stand and lift up our voices and worship You.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Judges 16:1-22
Happy Anniversary! Name one thing you praise God for regarding Harvest Bible Chapel.
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Why do you think Samson carried the gates of Gaza away instead of fighting? Why do you think Samson played around with Delilah’s interrogation of his strength? What do these accounts tell you about Samson at this time in his life?
Samson’s story boils down to three wrong women. Why do you think some people repeatedly choose to be with the wrong type of person?
Breakout
Do you recognize your sin tendency / area of weakness? Pray for the discernment and faith to flee when temptation comes!