Address—Bernie Roossinck
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Good evening.
It's a real happy thing to stand up here and see all these faces, especially all you boys and girls, all you young people back there. Welcome. We're happy that you're here. My name is Bernie. I'm from Fremont, MI, and I think I know most of you. If I don't, I'd like to know you. So.
I'd like to take up, with the Lord's help, a subject that I've never spoken on before.
And it's always been a bit of an enigma to me, the story. Any of your kids know what an enigma is?
I'll just tell you it's a mystery kind of puzzling sometimes.
Maybe a little bit difficult to understand sometimes. Why did that happen and then something else happened, like what is going on? And that is, I'd like to have some lessons from the life of Samson.
So before I open to judges, I would like to read one verse from Hebrews 11 verse 32.
And it says, For what shall I more say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Verrick, and of Samson, and of Jeptha, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets now, kids.
Hebrews 11 is a list of people that God gives us in His word that are noted for faith, and we might call it the Honor Roll of faith.
Maybe if Jake was announcing this, he might call it the Hall of Fame of Faith.
But anyway, here Samson is in this list of people that God counted as faithful, and so I'd like to take up his life. And there's a lot that happens in his life. And we don't have a lot of time. So I'm not going to read or four chapters to you, but we'll refer to different events in Sampson's life with the goal of drawing some profit out for each one of us.
And so I guess the first thing I'll say is Sampson was the last of the judges that are listed in the Book of Judges.
And the character of the times that he was living in, it says in the last verse of Judges, there was number king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And you can well imagine that that day it was pretty similar.
To this day that we're in, at least not on a spiritual basis. Obviously we have cars and trucks and that he didn't have, but morally and spiritually speaking, it was not a good time. There was just, I think this and I'm doing that and no, no, I'm this. That's a terrible idea. I'm going to do my own thing over here and this a lot of problems.
And.
Samson was brought into this world and given a real mission by God.
And we're going to talk about that, so let's turn to Judges 13.
And we'll take up the story at his birth.
Judges 13 verse one. The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines. 40 years.
And there was a certain man of Zora of the family of the Dan Ice, whose name?
Was Manoa and his wife was barren and bear not kids? That means she couldn't have children.
And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold, now thou art barren, and barest not, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son.
Now therefore be where I pray thee, drink not wine, nor strong drink, or eat anything unclean. For lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head. And the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Maybe a word or two about what the Philistines speak of in the Word of God. The Philistines were descendants from Noah.
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Had.
One of his son's name was Ham.
Which is an interesting name. I just thought they should have named him Bacon or something. But Ham. We find in Genesis chapter 10 that the Phyllis Knights descended from that family. And I don't know if I could dogmatically say this, so I'll be careful. But they're also mentioned in their origins in Amos on an island or a place that when I looked it up in the maps that I had, it was creaked.
But I can't really say if they came from Crete or not. But anyway.
The Philistines if you can picture the geography or look in your map in the back of your Bible.
Right along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, toward the South, kind of between.
North of Egypt and South of where the land of Israel is, there's a plane, a flat valley, and that is called the Plain of Philistia. And that's where these folks lived, and they were in that land, and they were a constant source of problems.
All the way from Abraham and Isaac's day, right on through the story of the Old Testament.
And.
They're characterized by.
Striving to.
Deprive God's people of refreshment, of nourishment, of water. So think about Isaac. It says that he had to redig the wells that his father Abraham had dug because the Philistines had filled him in with dirt. So here he is digging these wells again, and he dubbed some new wells, and the Philistines were fighting them about that. And it's interesting. We're not going to get into wells tonight.
Although it is a really instructive study, some of the wells that he dug or called quarreling and the other one was called.
Bickering or something like that. But anyway, here they're filling in all these wells. But I would just say this to you young people.
Isaac was digging those wells because he knew that his father had found water there. And so it's important for you to be willing to dig.
In places where you know from experience, in your own family or your relatives, this is a good place and there's water here. Now it's also important spiritually that you dig your own wells. And so, if you will, the enemy of your soul wants to fill in all those wells that.
Loved ones that went before us.
And they found refreshments and they found.
And as you come of age, some of you kids here as you start to get older.
You start to understand more. It's good for you to dig into the word of God and dig your own wells and bring this water up.
Another thing that I would say about the Philistines is they were between Egypt and the land of Canaan, right there on the Mediterranean coast.
And God, they were there in that place. And God had promised that land to Abraham and his descendants. And here these people were in that land, but they had not passed through the Red Sea to come out of Egypt. They hadn't crossed the River Jordan. And so they were kind of there as.
A really just.
Representing the power of the enemy to.
'Cause problems for God's people. And so Samson's mission in his life was God was going to use him joy to begin to deliver his people from the Philistines. Now how many of you guys can think of a very famous Palestine?
Well, how about it? It's Molly, right? What? Molly. No. Oh, man. What's her name? Leah. Annie. Ha, ha. I won't have to ask you again, though, Annie. I got it. Goliath was probably the most famous Palestine, right? And King David killed him. All right, now let's find out a little bit about Samuel's or Samson's family.
Says he came from the tribe of Dan, the family of the Danites.
And if you look through Joshua and Judges, you find out that the tribe of Dan did not take their possession. And it says early on in Judges that the Amorites drove them out of their property and they had to live in the mountains and they were not able to take the possession that God had given them.
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There was failure in that tribe and then we find that Manoa's wife was unable to have children, and that's a sad picture, if you will.
Of justice, general weakness and problems. And yet out of that, God could have chose a famous tribe, you know, like Judah, you know.
One of those other tribes that had gone in and strength, but he didn't he chose the the tribe of Dan and so.
The Angel of the Lord says to this woman, you're going to have a baby, and this is a special child.
God is going to use him in his life to bring deliverance to God's people and he's going to be a Nazarite from his youth up now a Nazarite kids was a very special.
Vow that a person could take and it is found in Numbers chapter 6 I believe.
And you could read the whole chapter, but we're not going to.
I just want to make a couple of things about what a Nazarite was.
Number six one, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them.
When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite.
To separate themselves unto the Lord. You guys get that? This person, Samson was to be separated to the Lord for his whole life. That was announced before he was even conceived. That's the that's the goal. Separate it to the Lord. He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. Shall drink no vinegar of wine, no vinegar of strong drink.
Neither shall he eat any liquor of grapes.
For the sake of time, I'm not going to read this whole thing.
I hope that's not disrespectful, but I talk too much.
There were three things that a Nazareth had to do. They were separated to God.
And they weren't allowed to have any strong drink and wine in the word of God speaks about joy just like you right? And I love how you smile, Julie. So wine speaks of joy and Samson was not allowed to drink wine according to this vow. And I think the reason is.
That all of his joy was to come from the Lord, you know?
Another earlier in judges it talks about.
The.
Vineyard, a plant growing grapes, he said should I leave my wine that shears God and man to be king over the trees? I think it was. Can't quite remember what the story was. But anyway, wine speaks of joy and the Nazarite separated to God, supposed to get all your joy from the Lord. The next thing not allowed to touch anything dead, and that tells me of no defilement.
And young people, we're living in a world where defilement is rampant all around us.
And to have this before your soul to be separated to the Lord, to say Lord, I belong to you. And then not to be defiled. The last thing is he wasn't allowed to have a haircut. And my wife would tell you that there's a rule, I have a rule that if you can grab your hair.
Between your finger and the palm of your hand is too long.
And she goes already, like, yeah, can you cut my hair again? Sampson was never allowed to have a haircut.
What does that tell us? It tells me that he would be very visibly recognizable. Think about a 40 or 50 year old guy like me that never got a haircut ever. Leah, you think he would be like really bushy? And he would be. And it speaks to me about visible reproach. You know, it speaks in Corinthians about long hair being a reproach for a man.
And so those are the three things I want us to think about.
Separated to God, joy from the Lord.
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No defilement. And to be willing to take that reproach upon himself all right now.
We're going to skip all of his childhood, so let's turn now to you, Chapter 13.
Verse 24 I guess we're not going to skip all this child that the woman bear a son and called his name Samson. And the child grew and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of God began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zora and Estol. Now I like geography, I like maps. If you look at a map, these two towns are only about two miles apart.
So, Samson.
Was operating at a pretty small circle and the Lord as he grew up kids, the Lord began to move him and to use him and to give him thoughts about things that he should do. And it says the Lord blessed him and the Spirit of God was beginning to move him all right now.
The first thing he does, we'll go into this in chapter 14, verse 1, Samson went down to Timnath and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up and told his father and his mother and said, I have seen a woman in tinnith of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me.
To wife. This is in a time when they had arranged marriages and Sampson went down here. To Timnath now.
Just to tell you a bit about what that's about.
Tim Myth is a place. It's a valley, an agricultural valley, and it was noted for grape growing. Now wait a minute, Samson, you're a Nazarite. What are you doing in Timnath? And why are you trying to find a wife there? That was a bad move.
Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of my brethren?
Or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines.
Samson said then to his father. Get her for me. She.
He pleased with me well.
But his father and mother knew not that it was of the Lord that he sought an occasion against the Philistines.
For at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel. Well, here's what I take from that.
The mission that the Lord gave Samson was to deliver his people.
From the Philistines, there's nothing wrong with the mission.
So the problem was he was seeking this marriage union that was not according to the Lords minds and he was attempting to create this union where there could, there should not be one.
He had the right intention, but he had the wrong method. You know, he could have just went down there and just started knocking heads together.
But he went down there and he saw this girl and he told his folks, get her. That's the one. Go line it up. Let's plan the party. We're going now. I want to say this to you moms and dads.
Sampson's parents knew that was not good.
And they spoke to him about it. And I want to encourage you parents.
Dear young people, and your children are starting down a wrong path, please.
Pour the love of God into them, but be faithful to what the Word of God says.
A wrong move that's against the word of God is wrong. Samson made a big mistake by going down there. He shouldn't have been down in Timnis. He shouldn't have been down in those vineyards. He shouldn't have been courting a fellow signed woman. But he was, and his parents tried to talk him out of it. Now, you young people, be as frank with you as I can.
Don't ignore the counsel of people you love when you're making big decisions, especially if you think they might be wrong.
This is serious, Samson told his dad. I don't care what you think, she's the one. Go get her. Make it happen.
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I wish he wouldn't have done that, but he did it. So I'm not trying to jam you young people up, but I'm telling you in love for your life.
If there are people that are giving you advice and counsel about relationships, or if you are currently, right now, outside of the bounds of the Word of God, contemplating an unequal yoke, don't do it. You will live to regret it, and I tell you that with every ounce of sincerity that I have.
All right, we got to keep moving.
I guess one more thing about.
This in Proverbs chapter 6. If I was a really mean dad, I'd have my family stand up and we'd sing this first to you.
But we're not going to do it, Allison. Proverbs 620 My son, keep thy father's commandments. Forsake not the law of thy mother. When thou goest that shall keep thee. When thou sleepest that she'll. I better look it up. It's a good thing we're not singing today, girls.
Proverbs 620.
My son, keep thy father's commandment. Forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually on thy heart, Tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, that shall lead thee. That's what I got wrong. When thou sleepest, that shall keep thee, and when thou will wakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and the reproofs of instruction.
Are the way of life very important? Moms and dads do that.
You kids listen to what your loved ones are telling you, but more than that, listen to what the word of God is telling you. You'll be happy. There's happiness and obedience. I was reminding Mrs. Tony.
On Sunday or Monday, that I was afraid of her dad. When I was a kid, Mr. Barry was pretty austere. Remember that to him and he would get you up against the wall and a young man. What's the key to happiness?
Money. No, it's not money. I'll be back later. And the key to happiness is obedience. OK, let's keep moving. So here they go. They're going to Tim this.
Verse 5. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother at a timnath came to the vineyards of, and behold, a young lion roared against him, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he read him as he would have rent a kid.
And he had nothing in his hand, but he told not his father or mother what mother what he had done. He went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samuel. Well, what about this young lion?
I believe that the word sent that lion.
This is where I I get into a bit of an enigma with Samson because part of me is like the Lord was stopping him from going to marry this girl.
The other part of me is thinking God sent it that lion, and he got a great victory over it. And I think the Lord was showing Simpson the mission is right, but what you're doing is wrong. But I'm going to give you a victory. And so here this young lion is attacking him. How would you guys like to fight a lion with your bare hands? I don't think I would.
And it says he had nothing in his hand. So here comes this lion leaping out of the bushes maybe. And he just had to grab it and just, I don't know how he did it, but he killed it just like he was.
Way smaller, a gentle little animal. And God gave him victory. So what I want to say about this is.
That the mission of fighting against the enemies.
Or the enemy in spiritual warfare needs downright flat out head on fighting.
Sometimes it takes that and here's this lion roaring against him and he took it on head on and he, the Lord, gave him the victory over it, but the unholy alliance he was on his way down there to get that was wrong.
I also think the Lord was teaching him the power of delivering from that kind of an enemy. OK.
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We're not going to study a whole lot more about Sampson's Riddle because we don't have the time.
Basically though, I want to say this about marriage.
Here they are down there and there's, I presume, some kind of a party.
At least the seven day celebration. And so Sampson puts out this Riddle. He didn't have any friends there, by the way. He had to go buy some friends, basically.
They're having this feast and he gives them a Riddle assist. If you can solve my Riddle, I'll give you 30 changes of clothes. But if you can't solve it, you got to give me the same thing back.
And over the course of that week.
The Philistines were working on that Philistine girl. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Entice him to give up the answer. Get the answer, get the answer. Tell us what it is. And Sam says Nope, Nope, not telling you. And he says that he makes this comment and I just want to relate this to marriages in this room. He said to you, I'm not sure if this is his wife or fiance at this time. But anyway, he says to her.
In verse 716, Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother, so I tell it to you.
That's a dangerous place to be in a marriage. Lack of communication, Not good. And here's Sam says. I'm not telling you that. No, stop pestering me.
Men, women, that is not the recipe for happy marriage, and this marriage in a few days ends in major disaster.
OK, well it turns out he gives up the secret.
She tells the Philistines about it, he loses the bet and he has to go. Give 30 changes of raiment to this.
The young men in that town, So you know what he did, Leah? He just went to another town and he killed off 30 people, took their clothes, brought him back, said here you go.
It's pretty violent, isn't it? You know, that's what the Lord's.
Intent was for him in delivering his people from the Philistines.
That all this other business of finding a girl down there was wrong. All right now.
As a result of of that, there's escalating problems between the Philistines and Sampson, and I believe that God's mission for Samson was this.
And so he's stirring the pot. I find it really interesting that somebody could catch 300 foxes and tie their tails together. I got a pretty good idea that this whole room in here tonight would be hard pressed to put together 2 foxes by tomorrow.
But that's what the scripture said.
He he caught 300 foxes. This is chapter 15, verse four. And he tied their tails together, set them on fire and turned them loose across these ready to harvest wheat fields. And pretty soon all the wheats burning and the crops are burning. And as you can imagine, there was a massive escalation of problems.
And war breaks out.
Says that.
Sampson, I think he says he killed the.
Remember how many killed here?
Verse 80 smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter and went down and dwelt in the top of the rock. Eat them. Well, here he is. He wins another victory over the Philistines and then he retreats back to his home and he's up on this rock called Edom. Not sure what that rock means, but I would like to find out.
You know what happened, kids?
A whole lot of his countrymen, 3000 of them, came up there and said to him, what are you doing?
Once you know that we're slaves to these people and now you've burnt down all their crops and you've caused a big massacre in one of their towns.
We're going to turn you over to these folks.
And that's what happened. And Samson said to them, all right, I'll go, just don't you guys don't kill me. Just tie me up and give me to them. So that's what they did. You know, that makes me think young people about the Lord Jesus and says he came unto his own, his own received him not.
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When it came time for the cross of Calvary, all these people a week before had been winding the streets, coming into Jerusalem, and putting their clothes down. And blessed is the Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And.
They gave him. He was writing on that donkey a week later, you know what they were hollering? We don't want this guy. Let him be crucified. Kill him. And that's what happened to the Lord Jesus. And so this part of Samson's life makes me think of that.
Well, they tied him up with these ropes and.
He breaks him off like they're not even there. Samson had big muscles, but he had weak morals.
Yeah.
So he breaks those things off and he picked up the jawbone of a donkey. I have a jawbone of a Holstein cow in my and I meant to go get it today to show it to you kids because I've wondered what a jawbone of a donkey would look like. And I think a Holstein cow is pretty close.
It's bigger than your job, Paul.
Anyway, it's here he has this, it's kind of a boomerang shape thing about this long. And in verse 15 he found a new jawbone of an *** and put forth his hand and took it and slew 1000 men therewith.
Now in verse 16, he takes the credit, Samson said, with the jawbone of an *** heaps upon heaps with the jaw, and SI have slain 1000 men. Well, that was a he shouldn't have said that and he pretty quickly realized it because in verse 18.
It says he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great victory in the hand of thy servant. That was a way better answer. You know anything, young people, that you do for the Lord?
Give him the credit. It's not about me, it's not about you. It's about him and it's about what he's giving you to do.
And it's easy to want to take the credit, and it's not right.
So here Samson is giving the Lord the credit.
And I would just let's read about one more thing about this Jawbone and then I'll make a comment. So 1000 people die and Samson is very, very thirsty.
Says he was sore thirst. Verse 19 but God cleave a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came.
Water, they're out. And when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived.
Now that tells me that.
Doing a great service.
Does not satisfy the soul.
Only the Lord can satisfy the soul. You know, there's a lot of emphasis in this world about serving and giving back and all that. And I don't find fault with that except to say this, brethren, it doesn't satisfy. It must be for the Lord and then the Lord alone.
Can supply a thirsty soil. You know, I think about how many places you could go.
Right now in this county alone, to try to find satisfaction on a Thursday night and not find it.
The Lord satisfies the thirsty soul.
I like the gospel hymn that says I tried the broken cisterns Lord, but all the waters failed.
Ain't as I stooped a drink, they fled and mocked me as I wailed. Now none but Christ can satisfy none other name for me. There's love and life and lasting joy. Lord Jesus found in thee. Young people, find your joy, your refreshment from the Lord Jesus.
That is the only true source. Think of the woman at the well, right? She's out there and and the Lord is talking to her about the living water and she's like, well, great, I'll take some of that so I don't have to lug this spot out here. He wasn't talking about physical water. He's speaking about the soul, that living water.
I like what he said to her. If thou knewest who it was to talk to thee, I would say to him, Give me the drink, and I'd give you living water.
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What a beautiful thing. Go to the Lord Jesus for that living water, all right?
Now we have a retrograde step. I'm going to spend the next 20 minutes on Chapter 16.
And we don't have time to read this, so I'm just going to walk you through it. The 1St 3 verses. Well, I guess the last of chapter 15 I.
Samson judged Israel in the days of the Philistines 20 years so.
I take from that that Chimneys and the Foxes and the Jawbone was the launching of Samson's ministry, if you will.
And 20 years go by and he's judging Israel. And I think that he traveled a pretty small circle, according to what we read before. And now at the end of 20 years, there's a retrograde step.
I mentioned a minute ago Sampson had strong muscles and weak morals.
This is a big mistake. Samson went to Gaza, saw there a harlot that's a prostitute, a woman selling her body for money.
Any hired her, he bought her service.
Big mistake.
And then the word got out in that town, hey, Samson is in that house right there. And they're like, all right, here's what we're going to do. We're going to you get over there, you get over there, you get over there. As soon as he comes out the door, you grab that dude and we're killing them. So it's kind of scary, isn't it, Joy? Imagine if when you walked out the door, there was eight or nine guys out there that were just ready to.
That's why the situation was for Sam. Do you know what he did?
He walked out the door. He took a hold of the whole gate of the city.
I'm not tall enough to reach that board up there, but I don't know how big a gate of the city was. But it wasn't. It wasn't like a regular door. He just grabbed it. The bars, the gate, the post.
Just walked out the city with it, carried it up to the top of the hill, set it down. Now God preserved him in this step. It was a bad step to take. God preserved him, young people.
The Lord is gracious.
And when we take a step like this.
There are consequences. There are. Count on it.
I think though, of the grace of God in this situation, that the Lord delivered him from it, but it was a downward course that kept going.
But I want to. I want you to think about.
Remember when Peter was telling the Lord though all men deny you, I'll never do that, Never. And then the same night he's like, oh Jesus, never heard of them. Nope, don't know him. Nope, Nope, you're crazy eyed. And Peter had a similar stuff.
It was wrong, but yet the Lord delivered him from it. Another one that I think of as the Apostle Paul.
And I hope I'm not pushing this too far. It seems like a retrograde step for him to go to Jerusalem when the Spirit of God was giving him messages that if you do that it's going to end badly. Now we know that all things work together for good and the Lords purposes aren't frustrated but.
Paul went, and exactly what the Spirit of God said would happen, did happen to him. Anyway, here's Samson in Gaza, and he's yielding to these temptations. Morality, young people, matters.
It matters. Now let's get into the story of Delilah.
I find this section of Samson's life to be one of the most pitiful and humiliating falls that I can think of that ever happened to a servant of God.
It really makes me sad, but it happened.
Verse.
I guess we'll start with verse four. It came to pass afterward.
He loved a woman in the valley of Surrey, whose name was Delilah, and the Lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her.
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Entice him.
See, we're in his great strength.
Enticing really means to you.
Not very good at definitions, it really enticing means.
Be nice and kind and loving and and just get close to women and get the information we need. You know, I thought of what it says in Proverbs. My son, if sinners entice thee.
Which is what the devil wants to do to you every day as a Christian young person.
If sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Consent thou not.
Another verse in Proverbs. I better turn to this one to get it right. This is Proverbs 4.
And verse 14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, going out in the way of evil men. Avoid it, Pass not by it, turn from it, pass away.
All right, avoiding something, turning away from it, getting away from it. I tell you kids a story that happened to me on Tuesday here at the camp, so.
I was taking a shower in one of the basement showers, but I'm not going to tell you which one so that you keep using the one you've been using.
And I had my glasses off and I can't see that good. And I got in the shower and it's kind of tight because I'm a fat guy. So I'm standing there like this and I pulled the curtain across and what do you think I saw?
I saw a great big spider crawling his way up the curtain and it was about from me to this microphone away. It was big too. I hate spiders. It's probably that big around.
So I avoided that thing. I got a shower. He and I coexisted for about 90 seconds.
And I'll tell you what, I didn't come anywhere near that shower curtain anyway. I don't want to make too much fun. The point is, kids, avoiding something means get away. Don't go anywhere near it. Move on, get out, go away. And the enemy of your soul wants to trick you into thinking that everything's fine, everything's good. Lull you into.
Complacency gets you comfortable and then destroy your life.
That's what he wants to do, Destroy your Christian life now.
Louise.
I appreciate your editing the calendar.
And quite some time ago.
You had in your calendar verse this. This is Judges 1615.
Delilah kept trying to get Samson to give up the secret, you know? And she said to him, How can you say you love me when your heart is not with me?
Now, rather than I want to ask you this with regards to the love of the Lord Jesus.
How can you say you love me when your heart is not with me? I'm not trying to equate the Lord Jesus and Delilah by any stretch, but I want you to think about that question for your own self. Does the Lord Jesus have your heart?
Or is it a facade? Is it a game you're playing A.
Play. You're acting in the you know, maybe everybody thinks you're a certain way and and when no one's looking, you're not. I want you to really ponder that. How can you say you love me when your heart's not with me?
This is a rabbit thrill, Louise, but thank you for your calendar work.
There has been many, many times that the verse that's in that is so suited to the day that can only be credited to the Spirit of God providing what's needed that day. So.
Thank you, Louise.
All right now.
The while it keeps chipping away at Samson. Hey, hey, tell me the secret. How come you're so strong? And and he keeps getting. First, he gave her a completely wild answer. Well, you know, if they tie me up with these green threads that have never been dried, you'll be able to take me. She's like, OK, I think I got it. So here these guys are hiding in the room and tie them up with these little green strings.
00:45:21
She's like, hey, Sampson, the Philistines are hearing us.
Then she keeps chipping away Chip. The secret of his strength was separation to God.
And that long hair that he had, that's the secret of his strength was separation to God. And that long hair that he had, that's the secret of his strength was separation to God. And that long hair that he had, that symbol that he was a Nazarite.
And he starts to get to the hair, right? He's like, well, you know, if they if they weave my hair into this loom thing, then they'll have me and say, OK, OK, this is it. Now we really got him this weave in his hair into the loom. Hey, Samson, the Philistines are here. Just like when he carried away the gates of the city. I don't know how big a loom is, but I think some of them can be big.
You just ran out the door with a loom hanging from his head.
But gradually, gradually, gradually, gradually, he was getting to the real story.
And finally.
She got to him.
And he says, all right, this is it if you cut the hair off.
I'll lose my strength. And that was the secret. That was the truth. And Delilah was like, okay, just one more time. I'm pretty sure this is the one come back. And I find this so sad. It says she made him sleep on her knees.
Young people, are you asleep in your Christian life?
I hope not. I hope that your dad right now living as close to the very edge as you possibly can be. Don't do that. Get as far away from the enemy as you possibly can. Always like the story of somebody hiring a carriage driver to drive. How close can you drive into the edge of this Cliff? Pretty close.
Next guy all this.
Very close well, but the person that got the job was the one that said I would drive as far away from that clip as I possibly could get. All right, you're hired. I want you young people to think about that where you're at your Christian life right now. Don't get so close to the edge that you're just one moment from slipping over. You know it it speaks in James about.
Enticement and thoughts become lusts and eventually if it's not dealt with.
That root goes down and lust will turn into action. That's what the Word of God teaches.
Don't do that. Stay as far away as you possibly can and here.
The secret's out. Delilah has Samson asleep on her lap. I think about what it says in Romans.
15 I think it is.
Awake.
I think it's also in the Ephesians and weight valve that sleepless.
Young people, with your spiritually asleep so dangerous of a position to be in.
Please take this coin with when you're surrounded by friends and surrounded by people that care about you and want your good and blessing, certainly go to the Lord about it and wake up. Wake up. The Simpson didn't wake up and they cut his hair off. And this is one of the saddest verses of the Old Testament to me.
This is verse 20, she said.
The Philistines be upon me, Samson, And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself, and he wist not that the Lord.
Was departed from him. He didn't even realize it. And he goes, oh, get up and knock your heads together. It didn't happen. He was just as weak as one of us would be and they got him and he didn't even realize. Young people over there, however long that took.
That the Lord had departed from him. What a tragic Sabbath. And they take him.
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This verse 21, the Philistines took him, put out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, bound him with batters of brass he needed grind in the prison house.
Think about what he lost. He lost his secret with God. He lost his separation.
He lost his spiritual discernment, his sight was gone, he lost his liberty, and he eventually lost his life. Here is a servant of God with his two eyes gouged out. I don't want to gross you out, but this is real. They probably took some kind of a spoon and just.
Popped his eyes right out.
Either that or they stabbed him in the eye. Whatever, he lost his sight, he lost his power, he lost his freedom, he lost his liberty. Young people, I want, we want so very much for you to have the liberty of Christ and to grow in your Christian lives and to be profitable in your assemblies and your families. And don't allow this to happen to you. Where?
Little at a time, you're just getting closer and closer.
To the edge and then bam, in a moment of time it's it's done and there's no going back. I just find that to be so sad and I don't want that for you guys.
Now.
I do like the rest of the story.
Before I read them experts, I mentioned Peter before and how he was sitting at a fire. I spoke to some of the European young people about this this winter, about different fires that you could be at. And Peter was at this fire in Pilot's Hall and he's denied the Lord and it says.
The rooster crowed and it says the Lord turned and looked on him, wondered what that look was like.
And Peter?
He sees the Lord just looking at him.
And he says he went out and he wept Betterly, that fire rescinded. Been at it.
Samson had no business being here.
But after the Lord arose.
Peter said to six other of the disciples, Hey, the Lord's gone. I'm going back fishing. And they're like, all right, we're in, we're going to. So they're out there. At least four of them were commercial fishermen. They knew what they were doing. And you know how many fish they got? None, not one. And the morning comes and there's a man over there on the shore and it's kind of dusky and you couldn't really say who it was.
And the voice comes across the water. Children.
Have you been successful? Have you any meat?
How's it going without me? And the answer was not very good.
And the Lord says.
Casting that on the other side.
And in the meantime, John is whispering to Peter, Hey, that's the Lord.
And Peter's like, what? What do you say? Yeah, that's the Lord. And he goes get out of the way and he takes off his Newfoundland. McCullough, the oil skins. I don't know what the Galilean fishermen call it in the water. He goes, he swimming through the Lord, and there on the shore is this fire with fish and bread. And the Lord says come and die.
Really. Peter just denied you a couple days ago?
Swore cursing oath and cursing that he didn't know yet. And yet the Lord is like Peter.
Come and dine, You're not going to be successful without me. You're not going to get anywhere in your life without me. And then at the end of that little fire there on the shore of Galilee, the Lord asked him three times. Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord. Peter, do you love me? Yes, I do. Peter, do you love me? Yes, I do, Lord. And then the Lord gave him a beautiful restoration.
Now I told you all that to say this young people, really all of you, brethren.
This is not the end of the story. It says in verse 22. Howbeit, the hair of his head began to grow after he was shaved.
And the Lord had one more job for Samson. Now, you young people.
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Maybe you think right now I have blown it so badly, there is zero that I can do to be of use to God. So I'm just going to go eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. The problem with that philosophy is we don't die tomorrow. We eat, we drink and then we're hungover or whatever else. That is not God's plan for your life. Samson's hair begin to grow again.
And at the end of his life, they're having this big party to celebrate how they're afflicting their enemy.
And some little boy, let's say your size, joy was walking Samson along and he says, could you help me find the pillars like these upright posts that are holding the building up? And the little boy took him over there and he prays to the Lord. He says, Oh Lord God, this is verse 28. Remember Me, I pray thee.
Strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once.
And the Lord answered that prayer. Samson took those pillars and he just, I don't know if he was pushing or pulling, but he pulled down, tore down the whole building. And it says the number of enemy that were killed at that time was more than all the rest of his life put together. And so young people, I just were going to close with this. Don't think that if you're in.
The prison house grinding with your eyes, put out that your usefulness for God is over.
It's not. Don't stay there. God wants your blessing.
And you're good, so. But I'll tell you this.
It's a lot easier not to take the route that Sampson took.
We're out of time. I want you young people to know.
We love you. I know there's a lot of adversity, there's a lot of headwinds, there's a lot of enticement, there's a lot of messaging.
Being thrown at you. Love the Lord Jesus, get into His word.
I repeat myself too much. I'm just going to tell you, don't do what Samson did. Do what the Lord wants you to do Love Him, follow Him, serve Him. You won't regret it.