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you you you you you you you you you you one seven four you you you you you Hey, man, no, no, no, please about this a good morning So I think we'll pick up on it for nothing nothing him now, you know What the puta is a him number one eight five him number Him number one eight five my savior's love same a component Jenna First has a puta I stand amazing persons are ready sing Oh Oh oh oh oh Oh All right morning everybody welcome to Verity Baptist Church take out your bullets in we'll go through a couple things real quickly Let's start with Salvations from this past week. Did anybody have any Salvations to report in the back any Salvations? Anybody? All right. What about up here in this section any salvation one anybody else? Any Salvations what about over here six three sets ten five fifteen seventeen Twenty Alright, great job. Anybody else that I missed? Alright, twenty Salvations great job everybody. And of course we do have so winning here today Let me just quickly go through the order of events again here today And so obviously we have our sweetheart banquet today the married couple sweetheart banquets So you must be a married couple to be a part of it But there's going to be extra food where people can come and fellowship, you know after they get back from soul winning That's perfectly fine. And so for soul winning today Those that are going to be part of the married couple sweetheart banquet, you're going to be going so winning nearby Shortened soul winning maybe an hour at the most so we can get back and get started with everything Those that are not married. It's like we're gonna send you to you know, Bullock on and You know cavite and and everywhere and Anyways, but one thing to quickly mention before I forget is that you know We're gonna do the setup a little bit differently after lunch We're just gonna clear all the chairs out instead of setting them up for soul winning We need to have everything cleared out as they're gonna be putting tables in here and setting up the food And my wife's gonna know the details better than me So if there's anything specific that some of the ladies can help her with with decorating, you know You can ask her about that There are gonna be some things to do but we're gonna clear out all the chairs Before the soul winning time and just will make it a lot easier And so other than that, I think that is it for announcements And so at this time we'll have brother Rafi lead us in another song Him number one seven nine him number one hundred seventy nine him number one seven nine such We think we're not done for size out gonna last answer say Where is that? God should love already saying Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Amen for a scripture reading please open your Bibles to the book of judges judges chapter 16 Near beginning of your Bible Judges chapter 16 and we will only be reading verses 1 down to verse number 6 Judges 16 verse 1 down to verse 6 Please say man if you're there Amen judges chapter 16 verse 1 Then went Samson to Gaza and saw there a harlot it went in unto her and I was told the gays I'd saying Samson has come hither and they can pass them in and laid wait for him all night at the gate of the city I required all the night saying in the morning when it is day. We shall kill him and Samson laid till midnight and rose at midnight entered the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts and went away with them bar and all and Put them upon his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the hill. That is before Hebron And I came to pass afterward that he loved the woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah and The Lords of the Philistines came up on her and said unto her entice him and see we're in his great strength lieth And by what means we may prevail against him that we may back that we may bind him to afflict him and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver and The Lila said to Samson tell me I pray thee We're in thy great strength lieth and we're with thou mightest be bound to afflict thee Bless the reading of God's word. Let us pray Lord God and have a new thing Lord for this name is given to us a privilege to please give us good weather and a Good day Lord power so winning our fellowship letter later on All right, we're in judges chapter 16 as I said both sermons are going to be romantically As the theme and so the name of the sermon is lessons on love from Samson and Delilah Lessons on love from Samson and Delilah obviously not good examples or good lessons But we can learn things that they messed up and things not to do. Okay, and first look at verse number four here in Judges 16 and The Bible reads and it came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah And so the Bible says here that Samson loves Delilah But this is not a good love. It's not a proper love. They have a fornication relationship They're not married and basically they both get into marriage. Just caring about themselves now Let's look at what is proper love according the Bible Ephesians 5 Ephesians 5 Ephesians chapter 5 Ephesians 5 verse 25 husbands love your wives Even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it and the Bible says that as husbands We are to love our wives as Christ loved the church Now ultimately Christ gave his life. He gave himself right? He died and paid for the sins of the world Well, you're probably not gonna have to literally die for your spouse But there's a symbolic nature of laying down your life having a sacrificial love Caring about other people more than yourself and in the Bible a proper love is going to imply that there is action involved If you say well, I really love this But then you never do it. It doesn't really make a lot of sense Right if I were to stand up here and say you know what? I love kimchi more than anything in the world Here's the thing. I never eat kimchi Right. I hope I never eat it again, right? I'm not I'm not a fan. It's one of my wife's favorite foods. It is not Ever gonna be an acquired taste for me. I don't think right what I'm saying is well There's no action to prove that but you know with my wife you might see her eating kimchi It's like well, she really likes kimchi, right? What I'm saying is if you love something there's gonna be an action To prove it or to back it up right verse 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing But that it should be holy and without blemish So out men to love their wives as their own bodies he that loveth his wife Love themself know when the Bible says he that loveth his wife loved himself Basically what the Bible is saying there is happy wife Happy life. I mean if if you don't show any love to your wife It's gonna cause you not to enjoy your life, right? Because if you have a good marriage, it's gonna make you happy if you have a bad marriage You're just always going to be in a bad mood. It is worth it to put an energy and effort to a good marriage It's going to improve your life, right? For no man ever yet hated his own flesh But nourishes and cherishes it even as the Lord the church when it comes to our own flesh It's like we do the things that benefit us, right? You know later on today I'm gonna eat the food that I want to eat if I choose not to eat something I really like the taste of it's for health purposes But it's still about my own flesh if I was saying everybody cares about their own flesh the things you do The choices you make however in marriage care about the flesh or the person that you're married to rather than just yourself Go to John 15 John 15 John 15 John chapter 15 verse 12 John 15 verse 12 John 15 verse 12, this is my commandment That you love one another as I have loved you now when it says I have loved you is This past present or future Past I have loved in the past. I have loved you, right? So this is something not how I will love you One day but what he has already done He's saying I've loved you in a certain way And obviously if you're gonna give an example do what I have done right not what I will do do what I have done And so this is past tense then it says in verse 13 greater. Love hath no man than this That a man laid down his life for his friends Now in a literal sense Jesus had not died For the sins of the world yet Now we understand Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, but in the concept of this earth He was born 2,000 years ago He was not at the point where he had died on the cross the resurrection is later in the book of John, right? And when he's saying lay down your life as I have done he's saying in a symbolic nature Ultimately, he did lay down his life But in a symbolic nature we can do that by esteeming others better than ourselves. That is proper. Love now go to first John 3 1st John 3 And I'm gonna go on a rabbit trail the next five minutes and this has absolutely nothing to do with the sermon but I couldn't figure out where to put it and I want to talk to you about the country of Turkey for a little while and in the Bible Because obviously you know the big earthquake where 20 plus thousand people died and what we believe in teach is that major natural Disasters are an act of God Now it doesn't mean that we're happy to see people die because we don't want to see people die Nobody saw the earthquake and is happy that people are dying What we do believe though is if a natural disaster hits here in Metro Manila and 10,000 people died It's an act of God right there used to be something that across the board People believed in but it is a fact that is what the Bible teaches now Just like I don't want to see people die and go to hell I want to see him get saved but at the same time God's judgment is just and we understand that but the country of Turkey is very interesting because You know in your Bible when you see those seven churches in Asia That is Asia Minor, which is part of what country today? Turkey Right the seven churches in revelation that is Turkey. I mean it seems hard to believe because Turkey is 99.9% Muslim there's hardly any Christianity in Turkey whatsoever. So of course the question is a bible-believing Christian is what happened? How do you go from being a central hub of Christianity? 2,000 years ago and then nowadays there is no trace of Christianity pretty much at all And if you try to practice Christianity and get people saved you will be killed Why because Islam owns the country? That's the way it is. Now. What's interesting is That in 1914 Just over a hundred years ago. Turkey was 25% Christian This is not just in 2,000 years. You dropped from like 50% Christian to nothing I mean going back just over a hundred years ago. There were 25% Christian you say what happened the Muslims? massacred Half the Christians they just murdered a bunch of Christians Because whenever Islam takes some power they just Annihilate other religions that is always the way it is all of the world you say why they are a bloody Evil religion. It's a fact whenever they take power They just cleanse out all the Christians just murder them and basically flee the country or you're going to be killed 25% Christian in 1914 and now it's like basically 0% you say why because Islam took over and they just brutally murdered all of the Christians This is not a conspiracy theory look anything up on Google It's a fact even the secular world admits this that it's a fact They just brutally murdered and kicked out the rest of the Christians now I'm not saying I'm happy the earthquake happened because I don't like seeing people die and go to hell I'm never happy to see people die around the world even if they're unsaved. I'm just stating though Turkey is an evil country and it's an act of God and obviously something they did God is judging that country back to the sermon first John 3 first John chapter 3 First John chapter 3 verse 16 Hereby perceive we the love of God and first John 3 16 is one of my favorite verses to prove the deity of Jesus Christ and One of the main reasons is it's easy to remember John 3 16 First John 3 16 very easy to remember if you're trying to think of a verse that proves Jesus is God Hereby perceive we the love of God Because he laid down his life for us So who laid down his life for us according the Bible God Right God still loved the world that he gave we understand God the Father gave his son Jesus Christ God the Son but in the context here first John 3 16 what the Bible saying the love of God that Christ God the Son Was willing to lay down his life for us he humbled himself and became obedient death even the death of the cross and notice this and We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren Now look you're not going to physically have to lay down your life for your Spouse or your family or anyone probably it's unlikely that it's going to come down to it's either you or them But in a symbolic sense we ought to lay down our lives on a daily base a sacrificial love for the person that we're married to But whoso hath this world's good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him How dwelleth the love of God in him my little children let us not love in word Neither in tongue, but indeed and in truth. He's saying show your love. Don't just say oh, no. I really love you It's like no actually back it up Right let love be without dissimulation right you know prove it and show it is what the Bible saying go to 1st Corinthians 7 1st Corinthians 7 Is There anybody who would read judges 16 and walk away and say man I see that great love Between Samson and Delilah. They really cared about one another Right it's like Romeo and Juliet Samson and Delilah right that great love that they have for one another is anybody going to say that Nobody's going to say that It's like where's the proof? There's no proof of any love. They just are concerned about themselves We're going to see that as we dissect that story here later on And of course one of the things is I mean Delilah's unsaved Right I mean, they're not married. They're fornicating and you know the question is well You know why don't they just get married well notice what it says 1st Corinthians 7 verse 1 Now concerning the things wherever you wrote unto me it is good for a man not to touch a woman Nevertheless to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband the idea in 1st Corinthians 7 Is if you cannot control yourself, it's better to get married, so you don't commit a big sin like fornication Now of course you would love to show this verse to Samson. There's a problem though You got you got to get your girlfriend safe for Samson Right I mean how much love does Samson have for Delilah when all indications are She died and went to hell without ever hearing about how to go to heaven is that a proper love I mean is that any brotherly love is a safe person that you don't even give the gospel to the person that you love so much Right I mean he's willing to fornicate with her why because it benefits him He wants that but then he's not even willing to give the gospel Is that the sort of love that is a good pattern for how to live our lives? You don't even give the gospel to the person you supposedly care about Turn your Bible to Judges 14 Judges 14 And look when you get married you ought to ask yourself this question, you know, what can I do to help out my spouse? What can I do to be a blessing to them rather than what's in it for me? That is the wrong attitude So we see an example of love or at least a bad example of love and we see a bad example of loyalty Right, we see the lack of loyalty in this relationship now before we get to judges 16 though We see that this is a pattern with Samson in the Bible that he does not have much loyalty notice what it says in Judges 14 verse 16 and Samson's wife wept before him and said thou dost but hate me and lovest me not Thou has put forth a riddle unto the children my people and hast not told it me now look Samson's wife should not be asking for the answer to the riddle but Don't marry someone who's not godly. I mean, maybe Samson's wife is saved. I don't really know But don't marry someone who's ungodly right, you know get married to someone who's saved Get married to someone that loves God And look if you marry someone that doesn't love God Doesn't like to read the Bible. They don't like to hear the preaching of God's Word You're in for a miserable marriage find someone who loves the Lord, right? It would be better off to wait for someone who loves the Lord Then marry someone who doesn't love the Lord and say well, it's just gonna work out Well, I mean something's gonna happen. It's gonna work out, but I'm the good way They're not just gonna magically when you say I do be like man. I love reading the Bible now It's I always hated this but I love it now. It's great ever since I got married. It doesn't work that way Find someone who loves the Lord But She does ask this riddle and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh because notice what Samson says and He said unto her Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother and Shall I tell it thee? What he's saying he's saying, you know what if I didn't tell my mom or my dad the riddle Why would I tell my wife like what are you talking about? I mean, my parents are up here. You're like here, honey That's what he's basically saying now, of course This is the idea of fixing what's on the inside because the truth will manifest itself I mean he says I haven't told it to my parents. Why would I tell it to you? Well, because maybe when you get married to become one and that relationship ought to be stronger than your relationship with your parents That's what the Bible teaches and yet out of his own mouth. He says Basically, I care about my mom my dad More than my spouse Right, you know what there there ought to be some things that you do tell your spouse about that You don't tell your parents, but it shouldn't be the other way around That you know, you're keeping secrets with your parents, but you don't want to tell your spouse It's like no your relationship your friendship with your spouse should be number one in your life Drop down to verse 19. I say brother Sucky. Maybe he just misspoke Maybe you're reading into it. Well, let's look at verse 19. Let's just continue the story verse 19 and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and He went down to Ashkelon and Slew 30 men of them and took their spoil and gave change of garments onto them which expounded the riddle. So Basically Samson and his wife they get into a big fight They're mad with one another look every relationship this happens Hopefully it doesn't result in you killing 30 people but you know husbands and wives they get in fights You Think of Samson as being the strongest and toughest guy in the Bible Right now this is my personal opinion But you know what? I don't think Samson was necessarily like this guy with these huge muscles because if he had these huge muscles And he's doing these things like well, how did he do that? Well, I mean because you know, he's got this huge muscle I think he looked like an ordinary person right like just just like one of us You wouldn't expect him to be the strongest person because it's by the power of God It's not the fact that he takes a lot of steroids and you know, he's in the gym all the time It's by the power of God but the thing is you think of Samson as being really tough and strong and he gets into a fight with his wife and let us look at his emotional strength and His anger was kindled and he went up to his father's house I mean the toughest guy gets in a fight with his wife and I'm gonna run home to mom and dad and Complain to them about my wife That's what the Bible saying he gets a fight and then all of a sudden he goes home to mom and dad to complain about It now look Samson I'm not gonna say too much good about Samson in this sermon Obviously, he's a man that even the New Testament proclaims He did great things and my opinion of Samson is he's probably one of these people that has Great positives and a lot of major problems and the major problems are very highlighted But it doesn't change the fact that he did do great things on behalf of God But in terms of an example of marriage, there's not a whole lot great to say about him Right. I mean it's there's nothing much good about Samson in terms of his romantic relationships He gets into a fight with his wife. He goes home to his father's house Now here's the thing. This is before the days of cell phones and modern technologies So when Samson runs home to his dad, we don't know how long What's gonna be the results? Well, the wife's gonna be like is he permanently separated, right? Is he gonna come back? Of course, the father of the wife is gonna wonder who's gonna provide for my daughter because especially during these days You're not gonna have you know women doing the sorts of jobs where they're gonna be able to provide for their families and so the question is well is he gonna come back and Samson's gone for a period of time. I would say a few months maybe Because time goes by where basically the father of his wife Marries her off to another guy because he's thinking I thought you were gone and it says here in verse 20 But Samson's wife was given to his companion whom he had used as his friend And so look if Samson is using his companion as a friend It's saying that he didn't have a whole lot of loyalty to his friends Basically, I'll act like your friend when I want to But he didn't really care about those people and he took that same attitude Into his marriages where he doesn't really care about the people he's married to I mean, he doesn't care about his wife here. And yeah, you know what what she does is wrong But running away from her is not the way to fix it and he just leaves why because he has no loyalty He has no loyalty To his wife whatsoever. Yes. This was a man who did a lot of great things But in terms of marriage, there's nothing good unless I've missed it to say about it. Not a real love Not much loyalty either go to judges 16 judges 16 You know oftentimes and this is more evident in America simply because you know divorce is legal and you know what it's Statistically proven that if somebody gets divorced once they're like much more likely to get divorced several times You know, it's very common and a lot of people take this idea. Well, it's like things didn't work out with my first spouse But the second one it will be better because it was all the spouses fault and the third one will be better because it was all the spouses fault the first two times and the fourth one and the fifth one now the reality is that Everybody has problems and with Samson, you know what he keeps the same problems Over and over and over and it's exhibited with all of his relationships It's not just his first relationship that he's married to but we also see this same thing with Delilah as well judges 16 verse 1 judges 16 verse 1 Judges 16 verse 1 Then went Samson to Gaza and saw there in harlot and went in under her so what you see here is that Samson is sleeping with a Prostitute right and this is not Delilah in judges 16 It's just something he did like a one-night stand. He sleeps with his harlot He goes in under her and it was told the gays I'd saying Samson has come hither and They compass him in and laid way for him all night in the gate of the city and were quiet all the night saying in The morning when it is day we shall kill him and Samson laid till midnight and arose at midnight and took the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts and went away with them bar and all and put them upon his shoulders and Carried them up to the top of an hill that is before he brought and it came to pass afterwards So this is a different relationship afterward That he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek Whose name was Delilah? verse 5 and The Lords of the Philistines came upon to her and said unto her entice him and see we're in his great strength Lyeth and by what means we may prevail against him that we may bind him to afflict him and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver and so Basically what's being said here to Delilah? Let's see how much loyalty she has, right? We're gonna basically put out a hit on your husband and we'll pay you for it because You know, usually if you're trying to get your spouse killed you have to pay for it Here Delilah is getting paid to get her boyfriend put to death Now look, I hope Everybody in this room regardless of how much money you're offered. You're not going to have your spouse executed but for eleven hundred pieces of silver, how much loyalty does Delilah have? Well verse six and Delilah said to Samson tell me I pray thee wherein thy great strength lieth and wherewith thou mightest be bound To afflict thee. So look Delilah Shows no loyalty or real love either to Samson in this story. Now go to Song of Solomon 5, Song of Solomon 5 Now look in in marriage Your loyalty will be tested from time to time showing how loyal you actually are to your spouse And you know one of the examples is that in marriage you'll probably have opportunities to criticize your spouse and a great example is in Song of Solomon chapter 5 and notice what it says in verse 8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved that you tell him that I am sick of love and What this woman is saying is that she's so emotional as a result of their marriage and you know Basically, he's gone and she misses her husband and she's just basically telling them. Hey, you know tell him can you come back? I want to spend time with you, right? I'm overwhelmed by all these things and Then it says here in verse 9 What is thy beloved more than another beloved? Basically, what is so special about your husband? Then it says this, O thou fairest among women So they say what's so great about your husband and you're the most beautiful woman that there is, right? What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us? So in verse 9 what they basically tell her is hey, you know what you could have any guy you wanted You're the fairest among women What's so special about your husband? Right. This is a perfect opportunity to be like, yeah, you know what? You're right Let me just give you a list of all the problems that I have and show you how horrible this is right But is this what we see in Song of Solomon chapter 5? I mean her loyalty is tested here in Song of Solomon She has the perfect opportunity verse 10 My beloved is white and ruddy the cheapest among 10,000, right? He's the best or the chief or the greatest among 10,000 His head is as the most fine gold His locks are bushy and black as a raven His eyes were as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters washed with milk and fitly set His cheeks are as a bed of spices as sweet flowers his lips like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh His hands are as gold rings set with the barrel his belly is his bright ivory overlay with sapphires His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the cedars His mouth is most sweet. Yeah, he is altogether lovely This is my beloved and this is my friend Oh daughters of Jerusalem She's saying I'm not gonna say anything negative about my husband Right, you know, I'm emotionally down. But hey, this is my friends And you know, isn't it true that you're not gonna say anything negative about your friends to other people? Look, if you've been friends with someone for a period of time, you're gonna know things about them. That wouldn't look that good You're gonna know things that can make it look bad But if you really care about them as a friend and have that brotherly love we talked about You're not gonna criticize them to other people Why because you care about them and what she's saying about Solomon is you know what I care about my husband He's my friend. I don't have anything negative to say about him. I just miss him That's what she's saying go to Ephesians 5 Ephesians 5 Ephesians 5 verse 31 Ephesians 5 verse 31 for this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall be joined unto his wife and They too shall be one flesh right? And this is something that's quoted from the Old Testament we're basically to become one leave father and mother and Cleave unto your wife and you become one that's what the Bible teaches And so here's the thing before you're married as a woman or a young lady Living with your parents you are underneath the authority of mom and dad right as a young man if you are living with your parents because the quote in Genesis is about men leaving father and mother Right and you're living with your parents. You are underneath the authority of mom and dad right and Here's the thing when you get married that authority system changes as the guy as a husband now you are now the authority over your wife and Your wife instead of being underneath the authority of mom and dad She's underneath the authority of her husband, right? And so this is what the Bible teaches to become one and so you ought to be considered as one flesh and have that mindset So look you ought to be loyal to your spouse Because you are now one according the Bible and these are part of the vows that you make before God and you're making this commitment You ought to have loyalty in your relationship. Go to Judges 16 Judges 16 It shouldn't be you know The husband ganging up against his wife like I'll try to get my parents to get her to change your mind or whatever Or the wife getting her parents on her side and then just criticizing the husband No It ought to be like you're committed as husband and wife and here's the thing one thing that takes place in life Is that when you get married? Sometimes you know in-laws whether they be parents or sisters brothers they can try to get involved in that relationship Which can sometimes cause problems and the mindset is husband wife ought to be like, you know What I'll talk about that with my wife. I'll talk about that with my husband That's between us not that you're allowing other people that agree with you to go against your spouse Even if you agree with what they're saying It's like no that's a matter for husbands and wives to figure out together. Why because to become one this is what the Bible teaches So we see point one love We see point two loyalty Point three we see lying. So not much love Not much loyalty but a lot of lying we see here in Judges 16, we're just going to go through this story as we close up and Realize that in verses 5 & 6 We see now that Delilah is trying to get Samson put to death Okay, we don't necessarily know when he figures this out. It could be That after verse 6 he figures it out, you know, even though Samson makes a lot of mistakes He's probably a smart person He's probably an educated person now. He comes across as as being Bobo. I don't think he was I think he was probably pretty smart and he might have been wondering like because how is she asking this question? How do you have this strength? He might be wondering why is she asking this right verse 7 and Samson said unto her if they bind me with seven green wids that were never dried then shall I be weak and be as another man in Verse 7 Samson's lying. This isn't true. You say brother Stuckey Isn't his lie justified because she's trying to get him killed Well, I would say don't marry someone that's going to try to get you killed for 1,100 pieces of silver sometimes you get yourself in situations where it's like Right or in America, we say plead the fifth. I don't want to answer that question Where's your strength come from don't want to answer that question, right? And I would assume that he already knows Because of the fact he's lying to her Why else would he lie to her unless he doesn't trust her and of course that's another important part of of marriage is just trust Which obviously they don't really trust one another and so he lies to her right verse number eight Then the Lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green wiz which had not been dried and she bound him with them Now there were men lying in wait abiding with her in the chamber and Wit and she said on to him the Philistines be upon the Samson and he break the wiz as a threat of tow is broken When it touched the fire, so his strength was not known so I mean Unless Samson's a complete idiot, which I don't believe he certainly knows After verse 9, I think he knew before this he didn't trust his wife But it's like why is she tying me up and all of a sudden there's people here to kill me Right. He knows that she's trying to get him put to death now The question is obviously why do you stay with her? I Mean if she's trying to kill you Right. Why don't you just leave? Look and I said last week, you know, I don't divorce is not justified But if your spouse is literally trying to have you killed I would leave that home Right, we talked about that a little bit last week. I mean, why doesn't he and they're not married Why don't you just run away? My opinion of Samson is that at this point he hates his life I'm pretty sure he already hates his life You say why because eventually he reaches a point where he says I want to die in this chapter. He hates his life You know, why would he hate his life? Well go to John 13. This is not in my my sermon notes, but I'll add it John 13 I mean kind of the same reason though why Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes says therefore I hated life Because when you make your life all about you What's the result you're gonna hate your life That's the way it is. Just look at celebrities Right. There's a you know, if you know Jim Carrey, you know He had this famous thing on YouTube where they're talking to him and he's just expressing how badly he hates life He was the guy and I guess his movies are pretty old now Ace Ventura the mask, you know But he was a big comedian and you know, he talked about how he just hated life he's like people think being a celebrity is is great, but It's like not really You say why because when you make life about yourself, you're not gonna be happy We naturally think that if we make life about herself, we're gonna be happy But we ought to learn a lesson from Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes, but look at John 13. Let me start at verse 13 John 13 verse 13. This is when Jesus is washing the feet of his disciples and in John 13 verse 13 He called me master and Lord and you say well for so I am If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet ye also ought to wash one another's feet For I've given you an example that you should do as I have done to you The idea would be ministering to other people putting other people before yourself verse 16 Verily verily I say unto you the servant is not greater than his Lord Neither he that is sent greater than he that hath he that sent him now You would think naturally that if I make my life about other people and put all of my energy into that and set aside Everything that I want naturally I'll be miserable. I Won't be happy. What does it say in verse 17? If you know these things Happy are ye if You do them Bible says the opposite The Bible says that if you make your life about yourself, you're going to be miserable If you make your life about other people You're actually going to be happy But you know what this is true because even on a common-sense level it ought to make sense because When you put energy and effort into your kids it caused you to be really happy when you see their happiness And their success and the same idea is true in marriage as well You say if I pour in all my energy and time and efforts and it's not fair I'm gonna be miserable. Actually, it's gonna make you happy the problem is People take the wrong mindset where it's like well, I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna hate it every step of the way It's like no if you actually went into it and say you know what? It's a joy to serve Christ and do what God says and administer on to others. What you're gonna find is happiness Yeah, an example Our church is obviously a soul winning church. We love soul winning. We believe in soul winning Sometimes when you go soul winning, you don't feel like going so winning Right. I mean, let's just be honest Sometimes you're tired Sometimes you want to rest. I'm sure there's some Sundays you say I just want to go home and rest I haven't had any free time, but then you go out soul winning which is not for you Because you're already saved forever if you believed on Christ but you do it for other people and Somebody gets saved and they're excited and what takes place you're miserable You're bitter and mad. I had to go soul winning Does anybody ever come back from soul winning after getting somebody saved and they're in a bad mood? I mean, I'm sure it's taken place throughout history at some point but generally You're gonna be happy Right you say why because what greater joy could there be? Then bringing the joy you had when you first got saved on to somebody else It causes you to be happy even though it's not about you and what the Bible saying is not just in the context of soul Winning but if you know the fact that serving others is gonna make you happy you're gonna be happy if you do it Did you know that? Following God's commandments is not a burden It's actually gonna make you happy Do you know that doing what God says is gonna make you happy? I mean people take this mindset I mean, there's so many Commandments and God's telling me to do this and this and this it's not fair But yet if you do what God says you end up being happy If you ever had people ask you this question, you know, like what do you do for fun? Right you go to church and you go soul winning You don't want to watch this concert with me, you know, you think it's worldly and all that what do you do for fun? Well, I hate to break it to them. But actually we have a lot more fun than them we live happier lives than them and You know, here's the thing. I mean if you're happy, you don't have to drown out your sorrows with alcohol. I Don't feel the need to drink alcohol. I don't feel the need to forget about what took place today Because I like life I Enjoy life. I mean a simple thing like seeing one of my kids smile as I come home and give me a hug That brings me great joy Much greater joy than a bottle of liquor could possibly do We enjoy our lives and see here's the thing if you make your life about other people You're gonna find contentment. You're gonna find happiness go to judges 16 And judges 16 It's interesting because you know the world Kind of they understand this to a degree But then they completely get it wrong like the I mean I guess pretty much just about every religion is searching after happiness for the most part But you know Buddhism is the big one you think of we're basically They Say, you know life has a lot of problems and you know, but they have the wrong solution and Buddhism to be happy remove all suffering from life The problem is Buddhism is completely built 100% on focusing on yourself. I mean literally the Primary Buddha that people worship that man when his child was born left his family On their own because he had to search after his enlightenment That's selfish Completely focused on yourself. I mean Buddhism is completely built with focusing on yourself. And what's the result? It's the most miserable religion. They are that there is why because they just focus on themselves And look, I understand in life. Sometimes you have storms of life you have problems and sometimes there's times of mourning But here's the reality a great way to get over really difficult times is to stop focusing on what the problem is Get your mind off it if all you do is meditate on problems You're gonna be miserable Common sense would say this you say what's the solution? Obeying what God says Ministering on to others making your life no longer about yourself, but about other people go back to judges 16 Judges 16 verse 10 and Delilah said unto Samson behold thou hast mocked me and told me lies, right? I mean Samson lies to her now Yes, I mean I it's kind of justified but you know, here's the thing Just leave Right, you're not even married just leave Just leave there. But you know what he's living for himself and he enjoys the fornication. So he keeps it up Now tell me I pray thee wherewith thou mightest be bound And he said unto her if they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied Then shall I be weak and be as another man? I mean, it's like Samson is testing his ability Right, and you know what? Sometimes we can take this mindset where we allow sin in our lives and we feel like well God has not punished me yet Therefore I can get away with it right I can have this pocket of sin in my life Well, I mean you need to keep reading in Judges 16 to see if that's actually true because eventually your luck is going to run out my friends it says in verse 12 Delilah therefore took new ropes and bound him therewith and said unto him that Philistines be upon thee and Samson and there were liars in wait abiding the chamber and he break them from off his arms like a thread and Delilah said unto Samson hitherto thou hast mocked me and told me lies Tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. I would respond to her. Well quit trying to get me killed And I wouldn't lie to you. Right? I mean sometimes he's I mean, this is a real story. It's almost It's almost too hard to believe that this is an actual story, but this is a literal actual story that took place Tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound and he said unto her if thou weavest the seven locks in my head with the web and She fastened it with a pen and said unto him the Philistines be upon thee Samson and he waked out of his sleep and went away with a pen and the pen of the beam and with the web and she said unto him how canst thou say I love thee when thine heart is not with me and I would say well, I love you more than you love me Right, at least I'm not trying to have you killed Thou hast mocked me these three times and has not told me where in thy great strength lieth. So we have no real love No loyalty. Lots of lies. This is a recipe for a disaster in a marriage or in a relationship They're not married and it came to pass when she pressed daily pressed him daily with her words and urged him So that his soul was vexed on to death Look if the closest person in your life wants to have you killed You're probably not going to want to live anymore Kind of goes back to that idea. Maybe don't use people as friends Actually have real friends Actually care about other people more than yourself. Are there good things about Samson? Yes, there are There's also a lot of bad things about Samson that we see here in this story That he told her all his heart and said unto her there hath not come a razor upon my head for I've been a Nazirite unto God from my mother's womb if I be shaven then my strength will go for me and I shall become weak and be like any other man and when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart She sent and called for the Lords of the Philistines saying come up this once for he hath showed me all his heart Now, you know, there's that old story for kids, you know the boy who cried wolf where this kid cries Oh, it's a wolf It's a wolf and then they come up to help and then he's just making a joke out of it and they do that several Times then when the wolf actually comes It's just like they don't believe and they don't come they might have felt this way with Delilah Yeah, you know the secret that's gonna end Samson But I do believe that at this point Delilah really believes this is true because the other ones are kind of silly How do you get rid of the strength just put ropes on it, right? And then he actually tells her something he gives her an explanation of being a Nazirite and she's probably thinking ah You know what? It makes sense because it says that She she could tell in verse 18 and When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart. I think she knows this is actually true She can tell this is different than the other times that he actually told me something that turned out not to be true And then it says then the Lords of the Philistines came upon to her and brought money in their hand Verse 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 and she said 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 and look if you play around with sin Eventually, you just can't shake it off anymore It's too late Verse 21 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 and when they put out his eyes He's blind now They just take out his eyes Now I would say that any of us that that have our sight. I mean if there's one thing I consider valuable In in my body, I would probably put my eyes at least right up there if not number one Right. I mean you would hate to lose your I mean, can you imagine just all of a sudden immediately? You can never see again It'd be horrible Now, you know for me personally, you know, I tell people I wear contacts if I'm not wearing glasses if I'm not wearing my contacts I have basically no vision right? I mean just from a couple feet away. It's very very blurry to me I cannot recognize people past, you know five feet away. I can't do it. I can see colors But very vague and it's all blurred But I put contacts in and it's fine But imagine just permanently losing your eyesight because you know, my wife's told me before, you know Because it's a hard concept for her like man. It'd be horrible not to be able to see I'm like I'm used to it I go to sleep at night. I don't wear my contacts. I can't see anything I just know where I put my glasses So first thing in the morning, I pick them up put them on and I can see without that. It's just Very very very little vision horrible vision, right? If I ever wear my glasses you can put them on and you're gonna see what I see it's like Wow, that's horrible, right? I Can't imagine though Permanently losing my eyesight and never being able to see it would be horrible Especially if you've lived your life with the ability to see and you're not used to that but that's the end result now I'm not saying that if you go down a road of sin, you're gonna become blind It's not what I'm saying, but you will destroy your life There's no question about that now the good news for Samson is that after this event the Bible says that his hair began to grow and You know his strength was in his hair. So in a symbolic nature, it's saying you can screw up your life But still be used by God afterward right his hair begins to grow and that's true But I don't think any of us want to screw up our lives to figure it out Right, and that's the end result of Samson and that's the end result of this relationship that he's in look you gotta marry people That are gonna make you a better person Not someone that's gonna make you a worse person Right because in marriage, I mean the lessons we have from Samson Delilah love or lack thereof Loyalty or lack thereof and a lot of lying look if your marriage there's just all kinds of lies No, trust no loyalty Not caring about the other person just doing what you want. That is a disaster I mean when you get into marriage, you gotta have the mindset. How can I help my spouse? I want to be honest with them. I want to be loyal with them I want to be able to confide and talk to them about things that I wouldn't talk to any to anybody else, too And you know what? I don't want to have lies as part of my marriage But that's what we see here with Samson and Delilah basically the exact opposite of what you're looking for in marriage Let's close in a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for allowing us to be here today and Ask you to help us all just look at the life of Samson and the story with Delilah and help us learn lessons of things Not to do God and ask you to help us all just that are married to just strive to be better husbands Better wives and I ask you for those that are unmarried now to Find someone who's saved and someone who's godly and wants to serve you God. We pray these things in Jesus name I Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh You