 Amen. All right, Judges chapter 16. So here we have the final chapter in Judges about Samson, the judge, and this is the story of the end of Samson's life, how he meets his end, and he dies a young man. We'll talk about that a little bit later, but he doesn't live a full life at all. I mean, Samson died very young. We see again here in verse or chapter 16 of Judges that Samson gets himself in some trouble, this time trouble that he does not get out of. Let's look down at Judges chapter 16 and see what we can learn from this chapter this evening. First of all, in verse number one, the Bible says, then went Samson to Gaza. This is again, Philistine territory. He's heading into enemy territory constantly in his life. Then went Samson to Gaza and saw there and Harlett and went into unto her. This, of course, is a prostitute. I don't think we need any more definition than that. But once again, we just see here more woman in Philistine troubles. Are we seeing a trend here in Samson's life? We've already talked about his first marriage in the first and second in chapter 14, chapter 15. We saw how Samson's marriage was short and ended with pretty much everyone dying. That didn't work out. Again, he was with the Philistines, a Philistine woman. He goes to the Philistine territory again, and this time is in sin, once again showing that he's not taking the Nazarite vow very seriously at all. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5 as I continue reading Judges chapter 16. Look at verse number two. And it was told to Gauzite, saying, Samson has come hither. So Samson's made a reputation of himself. He's killed thousands of Philistines at this point by his own hand, and they compassed him in and laid wait 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 lay 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, barren all and put them upon his shoulders and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. So first of all, they're waiting for him in the morning in the gate of the city, which is an area between the city walls where the king sit and judge and things like this. They're waiting for him. They were probably sleeping. Samson gets up at midnight, apparently knew they were there, gets up at midnight, goes, rips the doors off of the gate of the wall and carries them off. So this is another example of his superhuman strength. These are not doors like the door to the church here. These are doors to the gates to the city and to tear them off and carry them on your shoulders. That is something. So he does that. But again, he's there for what reason? He's there because he's committing fornication and he's going into a harlot. So not great judgment in Samson's part. Look at Ephesians chapter 5 and just proof again that this Nazarite vow is not really defining Samson's life at all at this point. We've seen other clues about this in the previous chapters, but look at Ephesians chapter 5. We know from Numbers chapter 6 that the Nazarite vow is about cleanliness and it's about a show of a clean life to God, basically. Look at Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 3. Look what the Bible says about fornication. It says, But fornication and all uncleanliness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become saints. So here we see that fornication is put into this category of being unclean. It says fornication and all uncleanliness. So fornication, by definition here in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse number 3, is an unclean thing. And it's not hard to see why the Bible is saying that if you just think about what fornication actually is. And then verse number 4 goes further into this. It says, Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking or jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. And then again we see this kind of mirrored in verse number 5. For this you know that no whoremonger, nor what? So a whoremonger, a person that would go after a harlot, someone who is fornicating with multiple people for money, is talking about, it says, Nor unclean person. That is something that is entirely unclean. It's filthy. It's something that the Bible is saying is, it's just unclean. And we don't have to go any further into that. It's not hard to see how that's a very unclean thing. So look, the point is that Samson is just living this life of just flippant uncleanliness, and just fornication, and just, you know, all his troubles seem to revolve around women, and his desire for that. But look at verse number 4. So it's a theme in his life, is what I want to get across. So we see that he was married to this woman. He was after a woman. He shouldn't even have been after to marry. His parents tried to warn him. He didn't listen. We see here that he goes to a harlot, and then again, we see in verse number 4, he goes after another Philistine woman. Okay, look at verse number 4. And it came to pass afterward. So after this whole event where they tried to kill him, and he tore the gates up the city, and he left, it came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, we may bind him to afflict him. And we will give thee every one of us 1100 pieces of silver. So a couple things here. First of all, he goes, and he loves this woman Delilah. And right away, you see that the Philistines, they came to her, the lords of the Philistines, the leaders of the Philistines, they come to her and they offer her money. So they know who she is. She's apparently close to them. She knows them. They know her. And they have no qualms about the fact that she's going to have allegiance to them. She's a Philistine herself, and they offer to bribe her, basically. Notice how they didn't offer, you know, notice how they didn't threaten to kill her. They didn't threaten to kill her, like they threatened to kill Samson's first wife. They offer to bribe Delilah. So they know her. I don't know if she had some kind of stature, whatever. They know her, and they know, number one, that she'll probably respond to money. So, and she does respond to money, but her life is not threatened. So she's, you know, she's a female Judas, so to speak. She takes a bribe to sell out Samson. And right away, she begins trying to find out what they want. And, you know, that, I mean, it's not like she thought that, oh, they just, you know, they don't want to hurt him. They said, we want to bind him to afflict him. That means, look, we want to capture him. We want to hurt this man. And here she's like, okay. And she just goes, tries to find out what his strength is. Look at verse number six. And Delilah said to Samson, tell me, I pray thee, we're in thy great strength life, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. I mean, so now's where it gets really strange. But I think it's really important that, you know, as you read this story, you may think that the next, you know, few sequences of events are strange until you realize what actually happens here in the problem that Samson had. And Samson said under her, if they bind me with seven green wists that are never dried, then shall I be weak and be as another man. So he tells her, you know, if you get these green, you know, plants or whatever, and they bind me with these things, you know, then I'll be weak. That's my weakness. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green wists which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now there were men lying in wait, abiding in her chamber, and she said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he break the wists as a thread of a toe is breaking when it touches the fire, so his strength was not known. So first of all, he tells her this false reason of where his strength comes from, and then she actually does it to him while he's sleeping. Okay, so he tells her, you know, you tie me up with this certain thing, and then my strength is gone, and he wakes up, and he's tied up with this thing, and she says the Philistines are here, Samson. First of all, there's no indication that he ever saw any Philistines there. Okay, so it's just her coming to him at that point saying, the Philistines are here, Samson, and he breaks off the cords or whatever they are. And you know, it's obviously that he hadn't told her the truth. Okay, but she's clearly messing with him at this point. Okay, she is clearly being, you know, not up front with Samson at this point. And he must, I mean, she must have had some explaining to do even from the first event here. Okay, but it gets much worse because this happens again, and again, look at verse 10. And Delilah said unto Samson, behold, thou has mocked me. Look, she's the one that tied him up, and she's saying, you've mocked me, and told me lies. Now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound? And he said unto her, here's the second time, if they bind me fast with new ropes, that never were occupied, then I shall be weak, and be as another man. Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson, and there were liars in way, abiding in the chamber. And he break them off from his arms like a thread. And Delilah said, no, so that's the second time. And Delilah said unto Samson, hitherto thou has mocked me, and told me lies. Tell me, wherewith thou mightest be bound? And he said unto her, if thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. And she fastened it with a pin, and said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awakened out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam and with the web. So basically he tells her the third time, if you weave my hair into like a loom, basically, then, you know, all my strength will be gone. And she does it while he's sleeping. And he's got his hair weaved into this, you know, this loom. And he just picks the whole thing up. And you know, his strength is not gone. So that's the third time that he's told her a false reason. And she has done it to him, woken him up, and found out that he was not telling her the truth. Okay. Now look at verse 15. And she said unto him, how canst thou say, I love thee? Oh, she goes there. Right? I mean, look, you know, this is, she's trying to manipulate him to the extreme here. She's saying, you know, so Samson was obviously telling her that he loved her. And you know, Samson, I don't want to give away the whole sermon, but he was clearly infatuated with this woman. Okay? He was clearly just infatuated beyond all logic and reason in his life for this woman. How canst thou say, I love thee when thine heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times and has not told me wherein thy strength liest. So look, this woman has complete control over Samson, for sure. Okay? He clearly didn't trust her, but he was just, this is where it gets really foolish at this point. Look at verse 16. It came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death. Imagine this. Imagine he'd say, how do I know that she had complete control over him and that he was completely infatuated with this woman? Because look, I mean, the Bible says that, you know, like a woman that just nags on you constantly is like a continual dropping. I mean, it's like torture for someone to be nagging on you. You're going to be in the corner of a house. You're going to be in the wilderness. Why didn't Samson just leave? Because he was completely infatuated with this woman. That's why. Look at verse 16 or 17. So it gets even worse. Not only did he not leave, but then he goes ahead and he's vexed unto death, the Bible says. This woman is, I mean, maybe she was even threatening to, you know, leave him at this point, having that kind of control over him, where he finally feels like he has no other choice. He's got himself so wrapped up with this woman, Delilah, that he feels like he has no other choice unvexed unto death. That means troubled unto death that he tells her the truth. He tells her where his strength comes from. And you read this story and you're like, no, don't do it. You're like, did that really happen? Did he just tell her? In verse 17, he tells her and he told her all his heart and said unto her, there had not come a razor upon mine head, for I've been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb. If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me. And I shall become weak and be like any other man. And what Delilah saw, that he told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, come up this once, for he has showed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her and brought her money in their hand. So look, this time she knows for sure. She hasn't even done it yet, but she knows now that he's sincere and he's told her the truth to the point where they pay her before this even happens. Okay, so she knows, she's confident. Look at verse 19. More, I mean, look, more evidence here that she has complete control over Samson. I mean, she's telling him how to sleep. All right. 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. So I mean, she tells him, no, sleep with your head in my lap. And then she calls a man and he shaves Samson's head. Now it's very interesting in the next part of this verse where it says, and she began to afflict him. Nice lady. So afflict means hurt to cause pain to. So she decides to test his truthfulness by, you know, hurting him herself. So she begins to afflict him and his strength went from him. So now she knows. She began to hurt him herself. Look at verse 20. And she said, the Philistines be upon these Samson. And he woke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as other times before and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. So first of all, verse 20 shows us another thing here. Samson, and you can see it throughout his whole life. Verse number 20, Samson, he's just flippantly telling all this information to this woman. And then he finally, he tells her all these things. And these things happen to him. And he knows that, you know, she probably doesn't have his best interest in mind. But he's just, he's got something for this woman. And he's just, it's not spiritual. It's not logical. He's not thinking. And he's just telling her these things over and over again, to the point where he even tells her the truth. But in verse 20, you see that Samson clearly, and you look, you can see this when he went to the harlot. You can see this when he went to his wife of the Philistines. He just, he had taken God's gift for granted. I mean, the man was just constantly walking into danger. He was constantly walking into enemy territory. I mean, to risk his life for what? For the freedom of the nation? No, to risk his life to go onto a harlot. I mean, he's constantly risking his life and going into the Philistines and into their territory, because he just knows that he's got this great strength. And he's just, nothing could ever happen to me. But we see here that he takes it for granted one too many times, because he's lost his strength at this time. You know, so don't take your gifts for granted. You know, there's a something else out of this sermon. But in verse 21, the Bible says, so he doesn't know that his strength was departed from him, 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 I mean, now that's a sad thing. I mean, they gouged out his eyes, so he's blind. And they put him in prison. And now he's basically grinding grain like an ox or like a horse. He's, you know, he's on this wheel just, just doing hard labor all day while he's blind. So things have taken, you know, a turn for the, you know, the worst for Samson at this point. How be it, the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. So this, his hair starts to grow back, meaning he's been doing this for a while. So he's been in prison for a while. Verse 23, then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for it to offer a great sacrifice on the day gone their God and to rejoice for they said, our God had delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. So just one last note about Delilah, she, I mean, the woman was clearly a psychopath. I mean, the woman was clearly somebody who could care less about what happened to Samson. I mean, talk about a one-sided relationship where he just had this overwhelming love for her and this desire for her to where he just didn't think about anything else and all she could care less. If she got enough money, she was just going to kill him. She didn't care. Okay. So, you know, it's probably one of the reasons you don't see a lot of people naming their children Delilah. You know, it's not a, not a nice, not a nice lady in the Bible. You know, I mean, same thing with, you know, ladies like, you know, Athaliah or actually we knew a lady named Athaliah and I'm just like, what in the world? Your parents didn't read the Bible. It's like the worst lady in the Bible. What's named her that? But anyway, I mean, Delilah was a horrible person. I mean, she was wicked. She was greedy and she's basically a murderer. Okay. So, the Philistines come and they have this huge party and they have it in the temple of Dagon, their false God. And, you know, they're celebrating the fact that they've captured Samson, this man who in verse number 24, the Bible says, and when the people saw him, they praised their God for they said, our God had delivered into our hands our enemy and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. So, Samson, while he may not have freed the Israelites from, you know, the Philistines, he definitely caused them problems. He killed a lot of them. He's, you know, they call him the destroyer of our country, verse 25, and it came to pass when their hearts were married that they said, call for Samson, that he may make a sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house and made the, and he made them sport and they sat in between the pillars. So, they were making fun of him. They want to mock him and look at him, you know, with a great and powerful Samson and look at him now, you know. So, they're mocking him. Verse 26, and Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, suffer me that I may feel the pillars were upon the house standeth, and I may lean upon them. Now, the house was full of men and women and all the lords of the Philistines were there, and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women that beheld while Samson made sport. So, here you had this situation where you had this building and you had this, which was the temple and you had the roof of the building, and not only was there a lot of people there, thousands of people there, so it must have been quite a building, but they were all on the roof of the building. Look at verse 28. And Samson called unto the Lord and said, O Lord God, remember me. I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines from my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was born up, and one of them in his right hand and the other in 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 therein. 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 Zora and Eshtoal in the burying place of Benoa, his father. And he judged Israel 20 years. So, Samson dies young. He judges Israel 20 years. We've seen that statement several times already. Assuming that he started judging Israel when he was, you know, a young man, maybe 8, 9, 10, 15 years old, whatever, he was probably 30 years older, younger here, maybe a little bit older than 30 years, but he didn't live a full life. He died very young. Now, here's what's interesting. When you read this story, and here's why you can trust the Bible, by the way, when you read this story, we just read you some archaeological history about Philistine, because they found Philistine temples. So, you sit here and you're like, all right, how in the world could one man, you know, cause structural damage to a building to the point where 3,000 people or more would die in one time? I mean, he's obviously, you know, got these pillars that are within reach of his hands that he can knock down, that will bring the whole building down. I mean, who's ever seen a building like that? I mean, I've never seen a building like that. If I knock down that pillar, this whole building is not going to come down. If I knock down that pillar, the whole, I mean, maybe part of the roof will collapse, but the entire building is not going to come down. Okay, but here's what's interesting. They have found Philistine temples in, they have dug up and found Philistine temples. They don't know that they found the one that Samson destroyed, but here's what's interesting. I'll just read this for you. Two Philistine temples have been uncovered by archaeologists. One at Tel Quasil in Northern Tel Aviv and one in Tel Mink, Ancient Ekron, 21 miles south of Tel Aviv. Both temples share a unique design. The roof was supported by two central pillars. The pillars were made of wood and rested on stone support bases, with the pillars being about six feet apart. These two pillars that support the entire roof. A strong man could dislodge them from their stone bases and bring the entire roof crashing down. The archaeological findings match the biblical story perfectly and attest to the plausibility of the account. So once again, every single thing, and this is just one more thing, okay, every single thing they dig up, whether it's the account of kings, whether they're like, oh, did these kings really exist in the book of kings? They dig things up and they find these kings. It's the same thing. Every single thing that they dig up and every single thing that they will dig up for the next thousands of years or however long this whole thing goes on is just going to prove the account of the Bible, okay? So that's why, but that's important, okay? That's important. I used to really love stuff like this. Now it's just kind of an, oh, that's neat. Even though I knew that anyway, that there must be some kind of building like that. But look, it's important that you view the Bible literally and it's important that you view these stories in the Bible as history because that's what the Bible is showing you here in Judges and many of the other books of the kings. It's what actually happened in the Bible. It's not, look, it's not some cartoon story. It's not some cartoon story. You know, it's not a Sunday school story. It's what actually happened and these Sunday schools and dumbing these things down for kids, David and Goliath is a perfect example. I mean, you talk about the stupidest, one of the most serious stories in the Bible that has just dumbed down to the point of it not even being relevant anymore with all these Sunday school coloring books. Look, I've seen them all. I grew up in Sunday school. You know, with David, the little tiny six-year-old with the little slingshot hanging out of his back pocket, walking up to the big, you know, Goliath. You know, I can picture the Sunday school book, some of you can as well. I can picture it now and then we color. We color the book and then that's how we learn the Bible. What a joke. David was a mighty man of war at that point and he cut Goliath's head off. I never saw that page to color. Okay, I missed that page. You know, I mean, I can you imagine. I mean, that's a serious thing. Some little precious moments character, you know, cutting a man's head off. Okay, look, it's taking away from the story. And why does it even matter? But here's the thing, even in this story, you had a man that had his eyes put out. You had a man that just endured, you know, physical torture. You had a man that killed thousands of people here with this last moment of his life. And look, from these stories, the reason that we must believe the Bible is because, you know, there's so much to be learned from it. But look, from the seriousness of these stories, so many lessons can be learned. It's why we need to take away, you know, the actual stories here that really happened. I mean, this is what happened. You know, when you make silly songs out of this stuff and you turn the characters of the Bible into cucumbers and tomatoes, I mean, it's funny, right? And the kids like it. You know, they see a bunch of vegetables running around, slapping each other with fish. It's funny, right? But you know what it actually does? It takes the seriousness away from sin is what it actually does. And these stories are here to teach us lessons about our lives. And I mean, why would God put this story in the Bible? Look, is this a man that did everything right? Is this a man that fulfilled what God wanted him to fulfill in his life? No, it's not, but it's there. Why? So we can learn from it. So we can take these examples from the Bible. And look, we are to take sin seriously. That's why the preaching here is probably a little bit different than the preaching other places. You know, I mean, these things really happened. It needs to be kept serious, kept literal, and that way the sin from it will be serious. The uncleanliness of what's happening here is real. And if we turn it into vegetables and stupid stories and silly songs, we take away from that. And that, I mean, but here's the thing. The consequences for sin will be the same. These kids grow up and they think it's all a big joke. And they think it's all a cartoon story. And they think it's all just this big thing that's not serious. Then they get out in the world and they don't take it seriously. But the consequences are real. And the consequences are going to be literal according to what the Bible says. So they're going to be like, oh, what about the vegetables or whatever? When now I'm filled with disease. And now I've ruined my chance at a profitable Christian life. Because, and let me tell you something, you know, the Sunday school classes and all these different churches, they, the kids grew up and they went into serious sins. Because they didn't take it seriously. And why would they? Because it was never presented to them in a serious way. It was never presented as something that was serious. So what can we learn from this last chapter of Samson's life? So we know that we need to take the Bible seriously. That's just a side note to the sermon. It's not a joke. It's not a cartoon. It's real. And the consequences of sin are real. And these stories are real to show us that. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. This last story gives us a great picture of the dangers of one thing that I want to talk to you about this evening. And that one thing is this. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. And look at verse number 11. So we see this last story of Samson's life with Delilah. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2. The Bible says, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. Nothing really cuts through the confusion of this story and explains Samson's action like the word lust does. Both with the harlot and then with Delilah. So what is lust? What does the Bible tell us about lust? In 1 Peter 2, we just saw that lust, fleshly lust, it's of your flesh and it will war against your soul. Okay, that doesn't sound good. Look at 1 John chapter 2 verse 16. The Bible says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, here we see that connection to the flesh again and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. So we see that it's of the flesh and it's of the world. Galatians 5.16, I'll just read for you. The Bible says this I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. So look, lusting after things is the opposite of walking in the Spirit. Is the opposite of listening to the Holy Ghost. Okay, now are we just going to be hard on Samson this evening? Is lust something that only men suffer from? Turn to James chapter 1. Turn to James chapter 1. James chapter 1, look at verse 14. James chapter 1 and verse number 14, the Bible says, But every man is tempted when he is drawn away from a way of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. So there's really the problem right there. That walking in the Spirit is what we should be doing, but when we walk in the flesh when it conceives, what that leads us into is sin, the Bible says. And when it is finished, it bringeth forth death. So lust, lust equals this. Lust equals the fleshly desire for something that is sinful. That's what you could define lust as. Now with men and especially in this chapter, especially with Samson's life, turn to Proverbs chapter 5, this lust many times involves women. It many times involves inappropriate relationships that are outside God's plan with women. Look at Proverbs chapter 5. So it's the fleshly desire for something sinful. It doesn't necessarily mean it's relations between a man and a woman, but with men and in Samson's case here, that was the application. Okay, look at Proverbs chapter 5. The Bible warns us against this. The Bible says in Proverbs 5 and verse number 1, my son. So here's a mother talking to her father or a parent talking to their son, my son. Attendeth unto my wisdom and bow thine ear to my ununderstanding, that thou mayest regard discretion, that thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop as in honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil. The Bible says that this type of woman, it looks good. It looks like everything's fine and everything's great, but look at verse 4. But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. It's dangerous, the Bible says. Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on hell. I mean, these are some strong words. Less thou should ponder the path of life. Her ways are movable, that thou can't know them. The Bible says here, I mean, this sounds exactly like Delilah right here. Her ways are movable. It says you will never know the truth about her. She's unstable. She's always changing. She'll change. She'll turn against you for anything, like money, like Delilah. Hear me now, therefore, O ye children, to depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh to the door of her house. Lest thou give honor unto others, and thy years unto the cruel. Listen to that, how it says thy years. I mean, years of your life will be ruined from this. Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth. It says you'll be broke. All your money will be gone. And thy laborers be in the house of a stranger. And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed. Ultimately, you will die, she's saying. They will destroy you physically. So look, it looks good. You know, she's warning this boy. She's, you know, warning this boy. The Bible's warning this young man that, hey, when you see this strange woman, you know, and the Bible tells you what to look for and how to not, you know, what a strange woman is. Okay, it's someone who's, you know, not saved, not spiritual, and just, you know, this strange woman, you know, you're going to die, basically, is what the Bible says. And then say, how I have hated instruction and my heart despised reproof. It's too late at that point. So she basically, you know, the Bible says here, don't say you weren't warned after this happens to you. Turn to James chapter four. Is it just about, is it just about, you know, women and relationships? No, look at James chapter four. You can lust after other things. You can lust after things that are, you know, not just women, young men, and men in general. In James chapter four, look at verse number one. The Bible says, from whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust and have not. Ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. Ye fight in war yet you have not because ye ask not. The Bible here is saying that wars are caused by men's lust. Things that they want that they can't have. And, you know, land, money, power, women, whatever. I mean, the Sampson's lust was just one type of lust that men suffer from. So look, the Bible here, I mean, I mean, think about just worldly items you could lust after. Well, I mean, don't we see people lusting after things today? I mean, you know, cars, houses, you know, just wealth in general. You know, here's the thing about America. Here's the thing about America. So you say, is it wrong to want a house? Is it wrong to want a car? No, that's not wrong. But the thing about America is this. We don't really have this issue here. We don't really have this thing in America where it's like, oh, you know, I really want that house. So, oh, but I can't afford it so I can't have that. We don't really have that here because you can actually go out and you can lust after things and you can buy things that you can afford that will literally ruin your life. That's the beauty of America. You can go out and people will let you buy things that you can't afford that will cause you to sin. If I go out and I buy a Ferrari and then I can't afford to take care of my family, that's a lust that I fulfilled and it's driven me to sin in that case. So look, you can lust after things. You can put yourself in debt, in slavery where you can't provide for your family as the Bible says that you should be able to. That's another lust that could take you down. Ladies, ladies, you think you're going to get away with them. It's going to be hard on the guys, but ladies can lust too. Ladies can, ladies, you need to guard your hearts against the wrong type of person. You think about what the type of person that Samson was lusting after here. Ladies, you need to guard your hearts because look, here's the thing, turn back to verse number four of Judges chapter 16. Lust is a sinful want put quite clearly. I mean, you can't really say, ladies, that you won't fall in love with the wrong person. You can't really say that. You say, oh, you know, I'll just fall in love with the right person. I don't have to pay any attention to anything. It'll just happen. Wrong. Look at what verse four says. The Bible says, look, Samson was clearly infatuated with Delilah. As a matter of fact, infatuation is not really the right word because look at verse four. And it came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sark. Samson fell in love with this woman. She's unsaved. She's wicked as hell. She's, you know, basically a demon and he fell in love with her. I mean, Samson's a saved man and he fell in love with this evil woman. So look, he loved her. He was tolerating some pretty serious character flaws in this woman because he had just fallen in love with her. She's a Philistine. She's a heathen and she's evil. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter six. So look, there should be some prerequisites, ladies. There should be some prerequisites you have with someone you would even consider dating. Anyone that you would, you should have some prerequisites for anyone that you would actually even consider getting close to because you don't want to fall in love with the wrong type of person. You don't want to give your heart away to the wrong type of person. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter six in verse 14. The Bible says, Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness. So you should be looking for your spiritual equal is what the Bible is saying. Now, obviously, Samson knew there was other, you know, Old Testament, you know, laws that they should not be marrying Philistines. Samson, he threw all that to the wind and he fell in love with this evil woman. You should be looking ladies to marry your spiritual equals. You don't end up in a situation where, you know, because if you marry somebody that has no spirituality, he will drag you down. He will drag you down. Possibly he will destroy your life as Samson's life was destroyed here. But look, here's the thing. Somebody's spirituality. Somebody's, you know, character. Those things are easily recognizable upfront. So you just have to keep your distance from people that you know would never be someone that you should fall in love with. So you have to guard your hearts. The problem with women is this. The problem with women, here's your problem, women, I'm going to tell you, is they always think, you know, women have this, you know, this, what do you call it? It's like I can save him complex. Or, you know, I can change him complex. I don't know how many times I've seen this. You know, these women that constantly just go after these losers and these guys. I mean, sometimes I've seen it, sometimes where you ever, you know, you've seen a woman that just constantly is getting some guy that just treats her horribly. And that's the only kind of person that she will ever date or be interested in. Someone that just treats her like garbage. It's crazy. But here's the thing, ladies, when you see these character flaws, you must let that make you keep a distance. I mean, just think about it. You know, a man, you find a man, he's got a good job and he, you know, he's not, you know, he looks nice and he dresses nice and all these things. But he's a liar. He never goes to church and you see all these character issues. Stay away. Stay far away. Don't even get close to that. Protect your heart. Parents, same thing. You'd be watching especially your daughters because your daughters, when your daughters get married, men, they're going to follow whoever that man they marry is. You know, you can raise your boys to be spiritual leaders and all these types of things and they can lead their wife, but they're, your daughter is going to follow whoever she marries. So you need to protect your children's heart and protect, I mean, look, protect who your children are spending time with. I mean, pay attention to who you're spending time with. Remember Jehoshaphat? I mean, hello. Jehoshaphat was probably thinking, oh, I'm strong. I'm a strong Christian man. This Ahab, he's not going to hurt me. He's not going to change my heart. He's not going to change the way I feel towards the Lord. I know he's wicked. I know he's got problems. But look, Jehoshaphat, the problem wasn't with him. It was with what happened to his family. You know, his son married this wonderful lady named Athaliah. Read about it. He destroyed generations of his family because he wasn't protecting who, you know, his children were around, basically. I mean, here he had Delilah. He had this woman without word beauty, I'm sure. You had this woman with, you know, with maybe she had position, maybe she had whatever, whatever. But she was deadly. She was a deadly woman. Samson needed Proverbs chapter 5, even though it wasn't really around. But I mean, Deuteronomy 7 was there. So either way, Samson wasn't listening. But it just goes to show how our lusts can curtail our spirit and can cost us everything. And it's not just lust towards women, lust towards men. It's lust of things that will lead us to sin. It's lust of things that will, things that just we shouldn't have. We're listening to the flesh and we're not walking in the spirit. So, lust. I mean, that is basically what destroyed Samson's life here at the end. Now, Samson. Samson in general. Okay, everybody, you know, you could all look at me and you could say, you know, you've been awful hard on the guy. You've been awful hard on Samson for the last three chapters. And, but look, there's two ways to look at Samson's life here, okay? There's two ways to look at Samson's life, just in conclusion of the whole study on Samson. You look at it, you know, glass half empty. You could look at it glass half empty, which we've been focusing a lot on that. You know, there's just a lot of wasted potential with Samson's life. I mean, there was just a lot of things that he could have done. Look, he could have been great. He could have been great. You know, imagine all that strength, all that physical strength coupled with that same strength of faith. Imagine that. Imagine Samson just being as spiritual as he was physically strong. He would have led his people out of captivity for sure. No problem. But I mean, he just didn't meet that potential. You know, but the glass half full is this. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Let's give Samson some credit here. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, of course, the faith chapter in Hebrews, you know, talking about all these great men of faith in the Bible. And you know, Samson made the list. Samson made the list in Hebrews chapter 11. Look at Hebrews chapter 11 in verse number 32. And the Bible says, so the, you know, Hebrews chapter 11 is a great chapter. Go home and read it. Just talk it with all of these men of great faith that did these things by faith. And in verse 32 it says, and what more, and what shall I more say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Gideon and Barak and Samson and of Jephthah and David also and Samuel and of the prophets. So Samson made the list of these people who through faith, the Bible says, subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the miles of lions, quenched violence with fire, escaped the edge of the sword. Out of weakness were made strong, you know, there you could have Samson right there. Out of weakness he was made strong at the last point of his life, waxed valiant in fight, turned to the flight the armies of the aliens. So look, the point here is that the glass half full of Samson's life is that, you know, it's never too late for God to use you. Is the glass half full? Despite, look, despite all your flaws, despite all your shortcomings, it's never too late for God to use you. I mean, God used Samson, you know, to the, you know, the last second of his life, he used Samson. Even though Samson didn't do the right things up to that point, he seldom did the right things up to that point other than just being a destroyer of the Philistines. But look, you know, a lot of people, they think they're just like, I just wasted too much time in my life. They're like, I just had, you know, such a bad past in my life. Look, here's the thing. If you just like constantly focused on your past, that is Satan's goal. That is Satan's philosophy to get you to look back, turn to Luke chapter nine, to get you to constantly look back in your life and just look at the bad things that you've done and not focus forward. I mean, you think of the stupidity of it, first of all, that you're just gonna sit there and you got your whole life in front of you. And I don't care if that whole life in front of you is five years, is 10 years, is 50 years, is whatever. Because look, it doesn't even matter if you're 17 or you're 70. You don't know if you have five minutes left or 50 years left. I mean, the 17 year old could have less time than the 70 year old. We just don't know. We just don't know. So the stupidity that you're just gonna look back constantly in your life, it doesn't make any sense instead of actually going forward. Look at Luke chapter nine, verse 62. Look at Luke chapter nine in verse 62. Look what Jesus says to this guy that wants to follow him. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. You know what terrible sin this guy asked for? You know what terrible thing this guy asked for? He asked to go and say goodbye to his family, to the people in his life. And Jesus is just like, there's no looking back. So like, look, if you're not even supposed to look back, to say goodbye to people and you're supposed to focus forward, I mean, why in the world would you want to like focus backwards on like mess ups and sin in your life? But yet, you know, there's entire cultures in this world that just raise people to believe that they just have to constantly look back on how they were wronged or how their grandparents were wronged or how their great, great grandparents were wronged. And they just, it's training people to do nothing but look back. It's wicked as hell. Instead of training people and teaching people, like Jesus said, you need to, hey, focus forward, focus forward. It doesn't matter what's back here. What matters is what's in front of you. I mean, people could accomplish. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Teaching people to look back is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just look back and lament on all that back there because there's no way you could ever do anything forward because of all these things back here. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy because as you're focused back here, you'll never do anything this way. It's, I mean, it's self-fulfilling. Oh, if you only knew the hard times I had in my life. Yeah, you're not going to have any good times because that's all you're focused on. How about turn your head 90 degrees, 180 degrees that way, start moving forward? I mean, that's what the Bible teaches. And that's why the Bible teaches this. That's why Jesus said, that's why Jesus said this guy came up. He's like, God just wanted to go say goodbye. He's like, hey, that way, go forward. Like it doesn't matter why you're focused backwards. It's the wrong way to be looking. And that's the thing. Look, would God have preferred Samson's life went differently? I'm sure. I'm sure he would have. Yet at the last moment of his life, God's still granted him that strength to execute plan Y or plan Z or whatever he was on in his life. Here's the thing. Samson made all kinds of different. You have potential in your life. You have potential. Your potential is like this. As you make mistakes and focus backwards and don't focus forwards, your potential probably shrinks. But you still have potential. The problem that you have and that I have is we have free will and we can choose the wrong things. And we can look in the wrong directions and we can chase the wrong things. And we can go after these lusts that will cost us years, Proverbs 5 says. That will cost us our lives, Proverbs 5 says. But look, the sad thing is, as you and I, we probably won't reach our full potential. Because if we do realize it, it used to be here, now it's here. But look, it's better to catch it now and start looking in the right direction than never. I mean, so that look, there's always a path forward is the point is the main, that's the glass half full of Samson's life is that doesn't matter if you have five seconds of life left. There's always a path forward for you. There's always more, there's always potential that God has for you. But I mean, you can throw it all away just on personal decisions. Just on personal decisions, on lusts. Or, I mean, you could make it big for the Lord. That's the story of Samson. But it all depends on your personal decisions. This depends on what? The thing we hate so much, it depends on your works. It depends on your works. You're not going to heaven by your works, but what you do in this life depends on your works. Your profit, your potential in this life depends on your works. And that's the glass half full of Samson's life. It's never too late to get that potential and start moving forward. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.