RTW 2024

Delilah realized he had finally told her the truth, so she sent for the Philistine rulers. “Come back one more time,” she said, “for he has finally told me his secret.” So the Philistine rulers returned with the money in their hands. Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way she began to bring him down, and his strength left him.

Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!”

When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the LORD had left him.

So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison.

But before long, his hair began to grow back.‍

Judges 16:18-22

Finally, Samson shared his secret with her. “My hair has never been cut,” he confessed, “for I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else.”
Judges 16:17

• Sin, for the most part, can be categorized into three types: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. 
• 1 John 2:16
• Samson shows a very clear picture of the lust of the eyes. 
• Judges 14:1-23
• Samson got his way. 
• Judges 14:17
• Samson’s weakness continues, and is obvious to others. 
• Judges 15:2
• Samson’s pattern of sin continues. 
• Judges 16:1
• Samson meets Delilah. 
• It was not her inner qualities that attracted him. 
• Samson’s sin found him. 
• Numbers 32:23
• Samson’s ultimate penalty for continually yielding to the lust of his eyes…his eyes were gouged out. 
• Our sin life works the same. 
• Genesis 3:6
• Sin entices. 
• Sin entangles. 
• Sin ensnares. 
• Sin enslaves. 
• Jesus saves. 
• Titus 3:5

‍

Confront sin. Jesus saves.