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Man, this morning I'm going to be finishing my sermon from Wednesday night. I was preaching through the book of Judges, and Judges 16 just has so much good stuff in it. I kind of just went off on some things. So I ran out of time, and there's so much good stuff in this chapter that I really wanted to preach, and so I'm going to preach about it this morning and talk about the death of Samson. Now, going to verse number 19 in Judges 16, actually. Keep your finger on Proverbs 7, because we're going to be there in a moment. But you're going to want to put a bookmark or something in Judges 16, because the entire sermon is going to be from Judges 16. But of course we have the story of Samson. We saw at the beginning of chapter 16 that he went to a prostitute, and then he's with Delilah, which is obviously an ungodly woman, the Philistine woman, and she's offered money by the Philistines to figure out what is the secret to his great supernatural strength so that the Philistines can destroy him. So she takes money that Samson might be destroyed. Shows how much she actually cares about him. But it says in verse 19, of course she's already found the secret that she has to cut his hair, Judges 16, 19, and she made him sleep upon her knees, and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head, and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. Now this continues a theme that runs throughout the book of Judges where a woman will kill a man. Like earlier we have, you know, jail, killing Sisera, or we have the woman who drops a millstone on Abimelech's head. And the thing that I want you to understand from this verse is that the strongest man in the Bible was destroyed by a woman. The strongest man in the Bible was defeated by a woman, which is ironic because the Bible tells us that the woman is the weaker vessel. Obviously women are physically not as strong as men. Men are much stronger than women. But yet the strongest man in the entire Bible is destroyed by a woman. Now go if you would to Proverbs chapter 7 where we just read, and what we need to understand is that a woman, especially a strange woman, an ungodly woman, a whorish woman as the Bible would say, can destroy even the strongest man. You might think to yourself, oh well, you know, I can handle it. I'm not going to go down a dark path. I'm not going to get messed up in fornication. I can hang around with this sleazy woman, with this whorish woman. You know what? If you play with fire, you're going to get burned. And I think what God's trying to teach us here is that if the strongest man can be destroyed by the whorish woman, so can you. You can be destroyed by the whorish woman as well. Look at Proverbs chapter 7 verse 21. With her much fair speech, she caused him to yield. With the flattering of her lips, she forced him. So she's not using her physical strength, but she's using her words. She's using her cunning. She's using trickery. And if you look at the language here when it says, she forced him, think about that word force. You know, a woman does not have the force. A woman does not have the actual literal strength to force a man to have that kind of a relationship. But yet here it says she forced him with her mouth, with her flattery, with her tongue. That's why the Bible tells us to flee fornication. You don't want to put yourself in a position where you're susceptible to this type of forcing. Now obviously this is no excuse for a man to say, oh, I was forced. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is don't even put yourself in that position because it could be difficult to resist those temptations. That's why the Bible says make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Don't even get into that position. You know, we would tell young ladies all the time, hey, don't go walking down some dark alley at night in some downtown area by yourself. Right? We don't want young ladies to be chaperoned or we would want them to have a taser or whatever. We would want them to at least not just be a sitting duck and we might tell them, hey, when you go out to the car, make sure your keys are in your hand and you park under the street light. And, you know, we don't want women just walking around unattended in a dangerous part of town totally unarmed. We would say they're in danger. Am I right? We don't want them to be abducted or raped or attacked in any way. Well, here's the thing. On the flip side of that, you know, as men, we should not put ourselves into positions where we are susceptible to these type of temptations. Now, obviously, you know, as men, we're not really as worried about taking a walk at night or something or going jogging at night through a weird part of town because we don't really have anything that people necessarily want. You know, I leave my wallet at home and I don't really have anything that anybody wants. But obviously women are a target in that sense. But just as women should be cautious, men should be cautious for a different reason. Don't hang around with these kind of sleazy women. Don't be alone with these type of women. And really, we need to be careful, especially as married men, not to be alone with other women period. You know, we shouldn't just be in some room, some locked door, some office with a woman that's not our wife because of the fact that, number one, there's a temptation there that something could happen, or number two, someone could just slander you even if nothing happens, just like happened to Joseph in the book of Genesis where she claimed that he tried to seduce her or whatever. So we need to be careful of the strange woman because the strongest man in the Bible was defeated by a whorish woman. Look what the Bible says in verse 22, he goes after her straightway, that means immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stalks, till a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. Harken unto me now, therefore, you children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways. Go not astray in her paths, and watch this language here in verse 26, for she hath cast down many wounded. Notice that the language here is like a battle language. She's cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Can you think of one? Samson. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. Flip over to Proverbs chapter 31, you're in Proverbs 7, just go a few pages to the right, to Proverbs chapter number 31. So we see here how a whorish woman is dangerous, and we shouldn't just think, oh, I'm stronger than her, I'm tough, I, you know, I can withstand. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. The Bible says in Proverbs 31, 3, give not thy strength unto women. Isn't that exactly what Samson did? Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink unto him that's ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. She's saying, look, you know, give drink to losers, failures, people that are at the end of their rope. No, that's not you. You're a child of God, you're a child of the king, you're an ambassador for Christ. It's not for you to be drunk or to be hanging around with a bunch of loose women. Do not let these things destroy you. Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. And the thing that destroys kings is alcohol, okay? So booze and women is what the warning is about here. Now in Judges chapter 16 verse 20, the next verse in the story, it says, And she said, that's Delilah, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times before and shake myself. And he wished not that the Lord was departed from him. So he did not know that the Lord was departed from him. Now if you would, go to James chapter number 4 in the New Testament, James chapter 4. So the first thing we saw is that the strongest man in the Bible was defeated by the whorish woman, by temptation. And then we see that it's not only the whorish woman, it's also alcohol that's a danger that could destroy us. And the thing that I want to point out about this next verse where it says the Lord was departed from him is that sin causes us to lose the power of God in our life. Now the Bible says in Ephesians 5 18, Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. So you see that these two things are in opposition to each other. On the one hand, there's being drunk with wine. On the other hand, there's being filled with the Spirit. Do you think that somebody who's out being drunk is filled with the Spirit? You think a drunk Christian is filled with the Spirit at that moment? They're filled with the spirits. They're not filled with the Spirit, okay? Because the fullness of the Spirit is in opposition with being drunk with wine. And you can see why, because these two things have a lot in common. What does the Holy Spirit do for us? He gives us boldness. What does drinking do for people? It gives them boldness to sin. People commit all kinds of sins that they would never commit when they're drunk. They would never commit those things when they're sober. They get in all kinds of fights with bigger dudes because they're just emboldened to do everything that's wrong and sinful, whereas the Holy Spirit emboldens us to do right. So we see here that when we sin, we lose the power of God. We don't have the fullness of the Holy Spirit when we're drinking and partying and fornicating and doing these things. Now when you try to talk to a carnal Christian about, hey, you know, you don't want to live that sinful life because you're going to lose the power of God, unfortunately, you know, the carnal Christian probably doesn't really care. You know, if somebody is here this morning and they're a backslidden Christian and I get up and say, hey, listen, you know, you don't want to fall into sin because you're going to lose the power of God on your life, unfortunately, the carnal Christian is probably just thinking to himself, like, I don't really care, I don't really need the power of God. And then if I were to get up and make the next point and say, hey, you know, sin is going to break fellowship between you and God, you're going to lose fellowship with God, unfortunately, the carnal Christian, that might not matter as much to them because they're just kind of like, eh, that's too bad. Look what the Bible says in James chapter 4 verse 8, it says, draw an eye to God and he'll draw an eye to you. But how do you get close to God? How do you have that fellowship with God? Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. So purifying our hearts, washing our hands, and drawing nigh to God, go together. You know, if we're going to have fellowship with him, the Bible says if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. Having fellowship with God is walking in the light, not walking in darkness. But, eh, you know, okay, no big deal. Okay, but how about this? Sin causes us to lose God's leading in our life. Go to Psalm 37. And this is what even the most backslidden Christian should perk up and listen at this point about losing God's leading in your life. This is very important. Because what did the Bible say? I don't want you to lose track of this. I know I'm bringing up a lot of things. What did we say? We saw that he sleeps on Delilah's knees and she afflicts him. A much weaker person afflicts the strongest man because she has got him in her clutches. She has seduced him and is able to destroy him and afflict him. But then we see that Samson did not realize that the Lord was departed from him. What does it mean for the Lord to have departed from him? Now look, when it comes to salvation, we're never going to lose our salvation. Because Jesus promised, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You know, we're in the Father's hand and no man is able to pluck us out of his hand. So what does it mean to us when we say the Lord is departed from him? Well number one, it's losing the power of God. Number two, the fullness of the Spirit. Number two, it's losing fellowship with God. But number three, it's losing God's leading in your life. And this is the one I really want you to pay attention to. God's leading your life. Look at Psalm 37 verse 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. Though he shall fall, he shall not utterly be cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young and now I'm old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. Now this is the thing that I want in my life more than anything else is I want God to lead me. Think about it. Every single day we make decisions. Every week we make decisions. Sometimes we have to make big decisions. Where we're going to live, who we're going to marry, what we're going to do for our job, and just a bunch of little tiny decisions, I want God to be leading me. And the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. See here's where the Calvinists get it wrong. They think the steps of everybody are ordered by the Lord. You know, they think that basically God is ordaining every single thing that happens, whereas I would say, no, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. So here's the thing, just because we're not Calvinists and we don't believe that everything's foreordained and predetermined, let me tell you this though, when you're saved and when you're living for God though, you are walking on a path where you are fulfilling your destiny and where God is leading you. I just don't believe he's doing that for everybody because when you step outside the will of God and start living a sinful life, when you get out of church and you start partying and drinking and fornicating, you're not in the will of God. You're not a good man. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And when you go out of the will of God, it's like if you're on a hiking trail, right? You've got all these signs telling you, you know, go this way and it's going to be a half mile to the spring and you can get a water supply and then you're going to go three miles that way and you have a well trodden path in front of you. But here's what happens. When you get out of the will of God, it's like when you just start bushwhacking through the wilderness. Now look, you say, well hey, sometimes I like to just bushwhack through the wilderness. Yeah, sometimes I do too, until I don't. Because you know, yeah, you go bushwhacking and guess what? Sometimes you can find yourself in some really bad positions, some really bad places. You can find yourself up the creek without a paddle. You can find yourself lost. You can find yourself starving. You can find yourself with no water. And then it's not so fun anymore to just, eh, we don't need this path. We don't need this trail. We don't need this signage. We don't need this app. You know, we're just going to go out there and just bushwhack through the wilderness. Well, you know what? Good luck with that. I hope it works out for you, but guess what? Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes people die like that. And what I'm telling you today is that life is a lot more treacherous than a hike in Arizona. And I would not want to go through life with no guidepost, no sign, no path and just freestyle my way through life and just roll the dice on who I marry and just roll the dice on where I work and roll the dice where I'm going to live and every time I get in the car I'm just rolling the dice that I'm not going to get in a car accident. You know, I'd rather know that God is with me, God is protecting me, God is watching over me, God is leading my decisions and that I am in the will of God and if something bad happens ultimately all things work together for good to them that love God. So even when something bad happens I know it's going to work together for good. But listen, when you're not living for God you don't have that assurance and you don't have any guarantee that all things are going to work together for good for you. You don't have any guarantee that your steps are being ordered by the Lord because you're off doing your own bushwhack, you're off the right path. And so sin caused us to lose God's leading in our life. The Bible says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Here's what it doesn't say, God's going to direct your paths no matter what. Hey everybody on the whole planet, God's going to direct your paths period. No actually it says you've got to trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding and in all thy ways acknowledge him. Those are the three things you do and then what does he do? He directs your path. I want God directing my path. I want to have a spiritual GPS where God is telling me turn left, turn right, go straight, do a U-turn because I don't know where to go in life without God directing me. You might, oh I know where to, yeah, good luck with that. You are going to end up in a bad place. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry. So he didn't know that the Lord had departed from him. He doesn't have God's power. He doesn't have God's leading anymore. He doesn't have the fellowship with God that he once had. So in Judges chapter 16 verse 21 it says, but the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the prison house. So of course we've got the blinding, the binding, and the grinding of Samson here. The Bible tells in Proverbs 13, 15, good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard. It's hard, okay. God's commandments are not grievous, but let me tell you something, living a sinful life is hard. You say, well it's hard to live a Christian life. You got it right. Life is hard. Life is hard. So you want it to be a good hard or a bad hard? Your life is going to be hard no matter what. You will carry a heavy burden through this life, period. Because right now you feel kind of burdened down. Back to the hiking analogy. You're on the right path and mom and dad are leading you down the right path and the pastors, you're your hiking leader and you've got Christ up ahead of him leading him. So you're hiking down the right path. You got Jesus, you got the pastor, you got the church, you got other godly role models in your life, parents, whoever, good godly friends and you're hiking with them, right? And you know what? You've got to carry a pack. We're not going to carry your stuff, right? You've got to carry your own pack. So you're just like, oh, I'm just so burdened by all these roles and oh, going to church three times a week is such a burden. Reading my Bible every day is so much worse. And you know, God talks about people feeling this way in the book of Malachi where they're looking at serving God at the temple and saying, oh, what a weariness it is. Oh, it's just such a, it's just so much work bringing these animal sacrifices and doing this stuff. You know, it's just, oh man, it's just so hard and just, oh, I'm just burdened. You know, man, I could just cast off this pack and you know, imagine how much free time I would have if I didn't go to church, if I didn't go soul winning, if I didn't read my Bible, if I didn't pray, I'll just have so much time, you know, to just do what I want to do. Let me tell you something. I'm going to promise you something. If you take off that burden, if you put down that heavy pack called church, God's rules, reading the Bible, serving the Lord, you will pick up another pack that is heavier than you can imagine. You will pick up another, there's another pack waiting for you that is heavier than you can possibly even imagine. You don't know because you've never done it. You've never been there. But let me tell you something. You will pick up another burden because I'm telling you sin is a cruel taskmaster. And when, when you start going down the devil's path, you think the pack that mom and dad make you carry is heavy, hey, the devil's going to load you up like these guys in the military where they have to carry these incredible packs. How, what's the heaviest pack someone here carried in the military? What'd you carry? A hundred pound pack? That's incredible. You know, when my brother and I would go on these three day backpacking trips in Tahoe National Forest, we would tell people, make sure your pack is under 40 pounds. You know, you don't want your pack to be too heavy. You got to prioritize. So my brother, I kid you not, he set up a scale in the front yard and, and he would have people weigh themselves with and without their pack to show them your pack is too heavy. You're not going to have fun on this hike. Keep it under 40 pounds. Hey, I showed up, my back was 29 pounds because I'm like, I don't want to be burdened down or weighed down with too much. Okay. So here's the thing, mom and dad and Pastor Anderson and Faithful Word Baptist Church and the Word of God, they're telling you, hey, look, you know, you got to carry a burden in life. Life is hard. Life has challenges. Life is work. Here, take this 30 pound pack and carry it. Take this 40 pound maximum pack and carry it and you say, I don't want to carry it. It's too much. You know, the devil is going to strap a hundred pound pack to your back and one day you're going to wish for that 30 pound pack. Hey, there are people in this auditorium right now, I promise you, that have lived on both sides of this. They've gone out and lived the worldly life. They've gone out and lived the party life. They've gone out and done the fornication and the drinking and the partying and they will tell you his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Christ's burden is light. He says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. See, people out there in the world that are unsaved, they're already carrying the hundred pound pack. Jesus is saying, here, remove the hundred pound pack and take this ergonomic REI, you know, 30 pound pack for you. My yoke's easy. My burden's light. But see, here's the thing. Christian young people have never, they've never carried the hundred pound pack. They don't believe it exists. So all they've ever carried is the 30 pound pack so they think it's heavy. Oh man, my pack's so heavy. Mom, can you carry my pack? Dad, can you carry my pack? It's too heavy. It's like, okay, what's a real heavy pack like? It's not a 30 pounder, is it? Yeah, a 30, you would have loved a 30 pound pack, wouldn't you? I mean, look, people, unsaved worldly people who grew up that way, you know, they've done it. They know. But the problem with Christian young people is that sometimes they don't really know how bad it can get. And here's the thing, guys. You've got to believe me. Believe God. Believe me. Believe other people who've been there. They've done it. And they'll tell you it's not worth it. Stay with the Lord. Stay in church. I don't know, it's just, it's just a lot to drag my butt to church. Hey, listen, dragging your butt to church a few times a week is a small price to pay to not completely nuke your life. And that's what you're going to do. And you don't think you are, but let him that think of these standards take heed lest he fall. You're going to nuke your life. It's not worth it. Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And sin is a cruel drill sergeant. And he's going to put you in that 100-pound pack. And he's going to call you a bunch of dirty names and humiliate you. And you're going to be doing push-ups with that 100-pound pack. Mom and Dad want to take you on a nature hike where you carry a 30-pounder. So back to the story here. I've got to hurry for sake of time. So here's the good news, though. The good news is that until you're dead, if you're a Christian, no matter how bad you get, until you're dead, you can always get it right. Because here's the encouraging verse in verse 22, because we're working our way verse by verse through Judges 16 right now, if you didn't pick up on that. Judges 16, 22, that's why I said keep a bookmark there. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. So he's faced the consequences of his sin, the blinding, the binding, and the grinding of sin. But now there's hope. And if you're saved, there's always hope for you until you're dead. There's always hope for you to come back to church and get right with God. And so the hair of his head begins to grow again, symbolizing the fact that God's going to give him another chance. Now the Bible says in verse 23, then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice. For they said, Our God had delivered Samson our enemy into our hands. This is the fish god, Dagon. And when the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, Our God had delivered into our hands our enemy and destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house, and he made them sport, and they set him between the pillars. What does it mean they made him sport? They're making fun of him. They're mocking him. They're bringing him out as a clown to be ridiculed and to be played with. So the point that I want to make here is that your sins give an opportunity for God's enemies to blaspheme God. Because what are they doing here? You know, they're praising their false god, and they're making fun of the man of God, Samson. And Samson did this to himself because this is a result of Samson's whoredoms. Because Samson committed these whoredoms, now they're making fun of the man of God, and they're praising a false god. So this gives opportunities for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. You know, whenever any kind of a godly Christian falls into sin, what are the ungodly going to say? What are the non-Christians going to say? Oh, see, I told you these Christians are all phonies. See, Christianity is a fraud. And they actually would use it to attack Christ himself, and to attack the church, and to attack God's people. Any time a Christian would go into sin. And so when you sin, you're giving opportunity for the Lord's enemies to blaspheme him. You know, the Bible says in Romans chapter 2 verse 23, thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law, dishonorous thou God. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you as it is written. How would you like that to be said about you? The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Hey, I want Christ to be glorified because of me. I want people to see my good works and glorify my Father which is in heaven. I don't want them to see my evil works and blaspheme God because of me. You know, the Bible says that wives are supposed to be godly, obedient wives, and, and discreet, and chaste. And it says that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed, because if they live an ungodly life, it's going to give Christ a bad name. We represent Christ. Nathan the prophet told David, by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. That's what Nathan told David. Proverbs 27-11 says, my son, be wise and make my heart glad that I may answer him that reproacheth me. This is a father saying to his son, hey, there are people out there talking smack about me, they're approaching me, speaking evil of me. Son, be wise and make my heart glad that I may answer him that reproacheth me. Think about it. If my son does right, that vindicates the Lord. If my son does not do right, then that could give occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Now obviously we're all God's children. This would work for an earthly father and son. But what about the fact that we're all God's children and when we go out and do wrong, the people who reproach God are going to take comfort in our sinful wickedness. Is that what you want? Do you want to be a guy who contributes to Christianity getting a bad name, Christianity getting a bad rap? And look, I don't want to bring shame and reproach on my earthly parents either. I love my parents. I wouldn't want to humiliate my parents, bring shame and reproach on my parents. And you kids, you teenagers, don't bring shame and reproach upon your parents by living a stupid worldly sinful life after everything that they've done for you, after they've loved you and raised you and cared about you and sacrificed for you. Don't you go out and just make them look bad by living a wicked sinful life and even worse, making Christianity look bad, you know, making homeschooling look bad, making church look bad, making Jesus Christ look bad. Hey, is that what you want to do? You say, well, it's my life. I'm not hurting anybody. Let me tell you something. If you live for God, that's a positive benefit for the kingdom of God. You say, yeah, but if I just do nothing for God, it's just kind of a wash. No. If you don't gather with Jesus, you're scattering. If you're not living for God, you're a negative. You're a drag. You're dead weight. I mean, imagine if we're doing a relay race and one guy just doesn't run and he's just like, well, I mean, it's not like I slowed the team down. I just didn't run. Yeah, but the fact that we had a fifth guy on our team who didn't run, now we have to pick up the slack. Now we're not going to be able to run as fast, we're not going to be able to get this thing done. You see what I'm saying? It's dead weight. It's sort of like, here's a real carnal example for you, sort of like you're at the video arcade, right? And you're playing a two player game and the second player dies. But there's as many bad guys on the screen as designed for two players. Who knows what I'm talking about? Almost everyone. See, I know how to relate to you guys. It's like when you play one player, there's half as many bad guys. You play in two players, doubles as many bad guys. Now the other guy bails out and it's like, whoa. Let me tell you something. Other people are having to pick up the slack for you when you're not serving the Lord and, you know, it ends up hurting the kingdom of God because you're dead weight. It'd be like if we went on a tandem bike and you're not pedaling at all. Would it be easier for me, okay, here we go. If I'm riding a bike by myself, or let's say it's even a tandem bike. Let's say I'm on a tandem bike, a two person bike, but I'm the only one on it. I can still pedal and ride and everything's cool, right? But what if you're on the bike with me and you weigh 200 pounds and you're not pedaling? Well, I mean, I'm not, I mean, it's not like I'm pedaling backwards. It's not like I'm hitting the brakes. It's not like I'm resisting you. Yeah, but you're dead weight. You know, we don't want to be dead weight on the kingdom of God. You know, we're in Christ, we're bought with a price, and it's our job to do a little work around here. To do some soul winning, read our Bible, spend some time in prayer, go to church, and you know what? God's commandments are not grievous. We're not telling you, hey, you gotta go to church three times a day. You know what I mean? It's like, look, we're just telling you to come down here a few hours a week. I mean, look, nobody's telling you, hey, you gotta go in a monastery and be celibate and whip yourself and read the Bible for five hours a day. That's not what we're telling you to do. I mean, look, what are we up here trying to admonish you to do? Hey, read your Bible for 15 minutes, right? Pray every day. Show up to church a couple times a week, right? Three to thrive, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Go soul winning for one hour a week. We're not telling you, you know, to just, you know, uh, basically just take a vow of poverty and just, you know, sleep outside and be a mendicant and all, you know, we're not asking you to do anything extreme. The Lord's not asking you to do anything extreme. I'm not preaching anything extreme. And by the way, you're going to be happier anyway carrying the 30 pound pack of God's commandments and serving God and going to church. And when you pick up the 100 pound pack called the sinful life and you say, well, I don't know because I see a lot of people out there partying and they seem like they're having a pretty good time. Let me explain something to you. It's a fraud. Even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful. You know, you people out there and they seem like they're having a good time, but they go home with a very empty feeling. That's number one. But number two, if you're looking at unsaved people, they don't count because unsaved people can enjoy sin. Saved people can't enjoy sin in the same way that unsaved people can. You know, before you're saved, you can go out and sin and party and you don't have a conscience about it the same way that a saved person does because a saved person has the Holy Spirit living inside them. And so there's a big difference in whether you're going to delight and enjoy that sin. Now look, of course Christians can go delve into that cesspool of sin, but they're not going to enjoy it as much and they're also going to be chastened by God. The people you're looking at that are unsaved, they're not enduring the chastening that goes with it. So maybe they're in an 80-pound pack, you know, or whatever. But you're going to be in the 100-pounder, okay? You are going to be, because you're a Christian, because you're saved, you're not going to enjoy it. And you might enjoy the pledges of sin for a season, but in the long run, you're going to hate life and wish that you had listened to what the Word of God says. So let me just close on this final part of the story here. Judges chapter 16 verse 26. So the hair of his head began to grow again, right? God is basically, you know, showing that he has a little bit of hope. This is 23 through 25, we see God's enemies, you know, mocking the man of God and praising a false god as a result of his whoredoms. And then in verse 26 it says, and Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, suffer me, that means allow me, that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth that I may lean upon them. Now obviously we know what Samson's got in mind. The hair of his head began to grow again. He believes that it's possible that God might give him his superhuman strength again. And so he wants to go to the pillars whereupon the house standeth because he's going to use his strength one last time to destroy them and in the process to destroy himself, you know, to bring the house down on himself. That's what he's got in mind. But also you could take a symbolic reading of this, right? Look for the symbolism here. The symbolism that I would pull out of this is that, you know, when you're backslidden and you're not right with God, let someone lead you back. Let someone else lead you back because you're blinded by your sin right now. And when you're out backslidden, sinful, away from the Lord, you need somebody else to lead you back. And you know, we as Christians, we should want to be that person to help lead people back. And where are we leading them to? The pillars whereupon the house standeth. You know, the church is called what? The pillar and ground of the truth. The pillars were on the house standeth. You could see this as a symbol for coming back to church, getting back to the house of God, allowing someone to lead you. Now it's humbling to have someone else lead you, to have a little child lead you. But let me tell you something. When you're backslidden, when you're not right with God, you need to allow someone else to lead you. And what do I mean by that? You need to be willing to take advice. Listen to other people. Other people who are outsiders, they can see the situation. Let them guide you. Let them help you. Let them lead you back to church, lead you back to following Christ. Don't be too proud. I, I can do it myself. I, I'll find it myself, you know. I can find the pillars myself, you know. Let someone lead you there. Samson here had to be humble and say to a little child, will you please lead me to the pillars whereupon the house standeth. And so we need to allow other people to guide us, lead us, shepherd us, and give us advice. Don't be someone who never listens to other people. Listen to other people's advice and be brought back to the pillar and ground of the truth, the house of God. And of course we know the story that, you know, the house was full of women and men in, in verse 27 and all the lords of the Philistines were there and there were upon the roof about 3,000 men and women that beheld while Samson made sport. So they're up there in the balcony type thing up on the roof looking down and in and watching the show as Samson is mocked. I don't know if they're throwing tomatoes at him or rotten eggs or what, but they're messing with him, mocking him, making fun of him. And so he ends up taking hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, verse 29, and on which it was borne up, one with his right hand and of the other with his left. And Samson said, let me die with the Philistines and he bowed himself with all his might and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were there in. Obviously the people on the roof didn't make it either. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaal in the buried place of Manoah his father and he judged Israel 20 years. Now look, obviously this is not the way any of us want to end our lives, is it? This is not how I want to end. Is this how you want to end? A suicide bomber? No way. None of us wants to go down this dark path. But as we read the story, and most of us have read this story or heard this story throughout our lives. Maybe this is the first time you're ever hearing this story. I don't know. But when you hear this story or read the story, you must admit this is a better ending than if it just ended with him just being mocked and made fun of and then they just kill Samson and the Israelites are still enslaved. I mean it's still better that he at least gets to fulfill the will of God even though he does it the wrong way. At least Israel gets freed from the Philistines. At least the Philistines get defeated. At least Dagon's temple gets wiped out. And that's why there's nobody worshiping Dagon right now, okay? You know, it's nice to see Dagon crash and burn every once in a while in the Bible, right? You know, it's good to see these wicked people that were enslaving and oppressing God's people and worshiping a false god, these heathens who are mocking the man of God. It's good to see them wiped out in the end. But you know what? It's never gonna be as good, plan B for our lives is never gonna be as good as plan A. So here's the encouraging thing about this is that, you know what? No matter how bad you mess up your life, because Samson has messed up his life as bad as anyone could possibly mess it up. Eyes gone, enslaved, a laughing stock, oppressed, treated like an animal. He's messed his life up so badly, but yet God's not through with him. The hair of his head began to grow again. So that's encouraging to know, hey, no matter how bad I mess up my life, as long as I'm still breathing air, I can come back and serve God. That's good, but here's what we don't want to think. We don't want to think to ourselves, oh, well, you know, God's the god of the second chance, so I think I'll go out and sow my wild oats, and then I'm gonna cash in on that second chance. Plan B is not always necessarily going to be a cool ending for you. This is a cool ending for Israel. It all worked together for good for those who loved God, because think about Joe Israelite, you know, or Shlomo Israelite or whatever, you know, Joe Israelite, who married a godly woman, who was a virgin when he got married, and he stayed faithful to his wife, didn't commit adultery, he's not a drunk, he's not worshipping Dagon, I mean, he's worshipping the Lord. Don't you think there were a lot of just Joe Israelite godly men that we don't really know their names, they're just godly, salt of the earth kind of people? Well guess what? He's just going along, living his life, living his life, serving God, struggling under the Philistines, and then all of a sudden, well, the Philistines got wiped out. Cool. Now we're free. Amen. And he gets to live to a ripe old age and see his grandkids and his great-grandkids. That's who we want to be, right? We don't want to be Samson, dying young, and people don't want to name their kid Samson because you were into so much weird stuff, okay? So the point is, if you are backslidden, if you're not right with God, come back to the Lord because it's definitely going to be better than continuing down the dark path. And hopefully you haven't messed up your life as bad as Samson, so your ending will not be as bad. Hopefully you can have a pretty decent ending, right? But let me tell you something, plan B is never going to be as good as plan A for our lives. You know, plan A, if Samson would have stayed holy and godly and done right, he could have also defeated the Philistines, but he could have also been blessed and lived a long, happy, blessed life, and then everybody would be naming their kid Samson. And I know there are some people named Samson. I'm not trying to offend anyone who has that name, but it's not as popular of a name as you would expect. Everybody's naming their kid David and Peter, right, John, Andrew, Elijah. They're not necessarily naming their kids like Saul. You don't typically name your kid after someone who committed suicide in the Bible. You know what I mean, right? You're not really naming them Saul, Samson, you know, Ahithophel. So I want God's plan A for my life, not plan B. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Let's stay on that right path. Let's carry the burden that God has given us, the easy yoke, the light pack, the ergonomic pack, the one that's got the little special cushion and it allows the air to flow and, you know, that's what I want to carry. I don't want to carry the hundred pound military pack because it's just not worth it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great story that we could learn so much from and help us to take this warning. Lord, I pray that young people would understand the dangers of fornication, drunkenness, the dangers of getting out of church, the dangers of not reading their Bible and praying. And Lord God, please help none of us to have that wicked thought in our heart that you recorded in the Book of Malachi, oh, what a weariness it is. Such a weariness. Lord, it is not a weariness to serve you. It is a pleasure to serve you. Thank you for the privilege of serving you, Lord, and help us all to stay on that right path, carrying the burden that you've chosen for us, lest we pick up a much heavier burden And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.