The Ugly Truth About Sin

Message for THE LORD'S DAY EVENING, May 18, 2014 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister TOPIC: Sin, Christian Living The Ugly Truth About Sin Judges 16:1-6 (NKJV) Our scripture text this evening comes to us from the Old Testament BOOK OF JUDGES, chapter sixteen. And we will be reading VERSES 1-6. Judges 16:1-6 (NKJV) 1 Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2 When the Gazites were told, Samson has come here! they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him. 3 And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. 4 Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver. 6 So Delilah said to Samson, Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you. PRAYER *********************************************************************

I N T R O D U C T I O N Tonight we are looking at the life of a man in the Old Testament who learned THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT SIN the hard way. His name is SAMSON. Samson's life started with such great promise. His mother was barren, but an angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her she would bear a son. Samson was under a Nazirite vow all his life. As part of his Nazirite vow, Samson was to abstain from alcohol... he was never to cut his hair...and he was never to touch a dead body. This vow set Samson apart as belonging to GOD. But when we think of SAMSON, the two things that come to mind are HIS SUPER HUMAN STRENGTH and HIS SUPER WEAKNESS FOR PHILISTINE WOMEN. It is the latter that we are going to focus our attention on this evening. We are going to see how Samson's weakness for women led him to discover THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT SIN. The first ugly truth Samson learned was this... Ugly Truth #1: Sin Will Always Take You Farther Than You Plan To Go 1. Judges 16 opens with Samson co-horting with a Philistine prostitute named Delilah. Delilah's name in the Hebrew language was Laylah, which means, night, or one who weakens. (Ironically, Samson's name meant sun or day, which tells you these two should not have been together!)

2. Knowing Samson's weakness for Philistine women, the five Philistine Lords, or Kings over the five Philistine cities, came up with a plan to get Samson out of their hair (no pun intended) once and for all. These five Philistine Lords agreed to pay Delilah 1,100 shekels of silver each to find out the secret of Samson's strength. That is an incredible sum of money! In fact, in today's currency it comes out to around $750,000. 3. When you get down to VERSE 6 Delilah begins her little game of cat and mouse with Samson. v. 6 Please tell me where your strength lies and with what you may be bound to afflict you. Samson answers in VERSE 7, If they bind me with seven fresh bow strings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man. So they got Delilah seven fresh bow strings. She tied up Samson's hands, and gave the signal: The Philistines are upon you, Samson! Samson broke the bow strings as though he had been tied up with spaghetti. 4. Moving on to verse 10, we see Delilah's second attempt: v.10 Then Delilah said to Samson, 'Look, you have mocked me and told lies. Now please tell me what you may be bound with.

Now keep in mind, at this point Samson still believes this is just a harmless,innocent game of cat and mouse. He answers Delilah in verse 11 If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man. So Delilah took new ropes and bound Samson, and again she gave the signal: The Philistines are upon you Samson. The Philistine men who were lying in wait wanted to see what happened. And verse 12 says Samson broke the new ropes like they were threads. 5. Disappointed, but undaunted by her failed attempts, Delilah tries a third time to discover the secret of Samson's strength. In verse 13, Samson says to her, If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of a loom, that'll do the trick! 6. So Delilah wove his hair into the loom, and just as she had done before, she gave the signal: The Philistines are upon you Samson! Now notice, he had fallen asleep! Verse 14 says, But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom. 7. Three attempts...three failures, but for $750,000 Delilah wasn't about to give up. You notice in VERSE 15 Delilah plays the If you really love me card! (how many young people have fallen into that trap?) She said to Samson, How can you say, 'I love you, when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.

According to VERSE 16, this cat and mouse game went on for several days. And with each and every passing day, Samson was moving closer and closer to the brink of selfdestruction. 8. Finally, in VERSE 17 Samson let's the cat out of the bag. He tells Delilah, No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. 9. Convinced she now knows the true secret of Samson's strength, Deliliah sends word to the five Philistine Lords, who soon arrive with the $750,000 they promised her. 10. Now many have always credited Delilah with being the one who cut off Samson's hair, but that's not what the Bible says. VERSE 19 tells us that after lulling Samson to sleep, Delilah called for a man to come in and shave off the seven locks of Samson's hair. After the dastardly deed was done, Delilah shouted, The Philistines are upon you, Samson! And in verse 20 we see one of the saddest statements in all the Bible: But he did not know the LORD had departed from him. 11. SIN TOOK SAMSON FARTHER THAN HE EVER PLANNED TO GO! Do you think Samson ever thought Delilah's cat and mouse game would go as far as it did? Of course he didn't! But Samson grossly under-estimated the deceitful nature of sin.

12. And this same ugly truth applies to you and me as well: SIN WILL ALWAYS TAKE YOU FARTHER THAN YOU PLAN TO GO. *Do you think any ALCOHOLIC thought the first time he or she took a drink of alcohol that they would one day become an alcoholic? *Do you think any DRUG ADDICT thought the first time they took a hit or a snort...that they would one day become a drug addict? *Do you think anyone with A GAMBLING ADDICTION thought the first time they laid down a bet that they would one day be enslaved to gambling? *Do you think anyone with A PORNOGRAPHY ADDICTION thought the first time they bought a PLAYBOY magazine or visited an adult website, that they would become addicted to porn? *Do you think that man or woman WHO COMMITTED ADULTERY thought that lingering look or that innocent flirtation would turn into an adulterous affair? SIN took SAMSON farther than he planned to go, and it will do the same to you and me!

Now here's the second ugly truth Samson learned... Ugly Truth #2: Sin Will Always Keep You Longer Than You Plan To Stay (vs. 20,21) v. 20 And she said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson! So he awoke from his sleep, and said, I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free! But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. v. 21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. 1. As Samson walked in circles all day long pushing that giant millstone in prison, do you suppose he ever asked himself the WHAT IF question? WHAT IF I had stopped Delilah after the first time she asked me to reveal the secret of my strength? WHAT IF I had run out of the house that day and never gone back? WHAT IF I had never gone to see that prositute in the first place? 2. But you see, Samson did go see her. And he didn't just stay an hour or two; he lingered and lingered and lingered for days until Delilah wore him down and he revealed the true secret of his great strength. 3. SIN KEPT SAMSON LONGER THAN HE PLANNED TO STAY!

4. That is the deceptive nature of sin. Our pride tells us we can just walk away from it whenever we want to, but then we linger, and linger, and linger for weeks...or months...or even years until the sin takes control of our lives. *One drink becomes two...two becomes four...four becomes a six pack...a six pack becomes a case...until you are imprisoned by alcohol. *One hit, one snort on weekends, becomes one hit or one snort a day...then twice a day...then every 3-4 hours...until you become imprisoned by drugs. *One momentary glance at the office turns into some innocent flirtation. The innocent flirtation turns into physical contact...the physical contact turns into an afternoon rendevous at a hotel...and that turns an on-going affair. 5. You see this is the deceptive nature of sin. You think you can play with it and not get burned. You think you can control it and just walk away from it any time you want. But then like Samson, you linger and linger and linger until it IMPRISONS YOU! SIN WILL ALWAYS TAKE YOU FARTHER THAN YOU PLAN TO GO! SIN WILL ALWAYS KEEP YOU LONGER THAN YOU PLAN TO STAY!

Now here's the third ugly truth Samson learned... Ugly Truth #3: SIN Will Always Cost You More Than You Planned To Pay (vs. 25-30) Judges 16:25-30 (NKJV) 25 So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may perform for us. So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. 26 Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them. 27 Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. 28 Then Samson called to the LORD, saying, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes! 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. 30 Then Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines! And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. 1. What a sad, sad ending to such a promising life! Samson had everything going for him: his supernatural strength...his position as the Judge over Israel...and most importantly his relationship with GOD. 2. But look how much SIN costs SAMSON... *First it cost him his supernatural strength. *Then his freedom. *Then his eyesight. *Then his dignity. *And ultimately, it costs him his life. SIN ALWAYS COSTS MORE THAN WE PLAN TO PAY

3. Does Satan have any strongholds in your life? Is there one particular sin that you just keep going back to over and over again? Is there one particular sin that has gained such a tight grip on your heart, you feel like you can't let go? Can I tell you something out of love and compassion? It doesn't matter how long you have gotten by without suffering any severe consequences. It doesn't matter how well you have covered your tracks and kept your sin a secret from everyone. The Bible teaches us that You can be sure your sin will one day find you out, and when it does you will learn that IT COSTS YOU MORE THAN YOU PLANNED TO PAY. *It may cost you your HEALTH. *It may cost you your MARRIAGE. *It may cost you your FAMILY. *It may cost you your JOB. *It may cost you your REPUTATION. *It may cost you your FREEDOM. *It may even cost you YOUR LIFE. 6. The apostle Paul says in ROMANS 6:23 For the wages of SIN is death, but the gift of GOD is eternal life in CHRIST JESUS our LORD. The wages of sin never change. Lingering in sin always results in the death of something precious, something important, something you love.sin always costs more than you planned to pay!

CONCLUSION The late Paul Harvey once told the story of How An Eskimo Kills A Wolf. This story is rather grisly, but it provides us with a sobering inight into the destructive power of SIN. First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, then another, then another, until the knife blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade sticking up. When the wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent, he starts licking the bait, tasting the frozen blood. And he keeps licking until the knife blade is bare. The wolf's craving for the blood is so insatiable he doesn't even notice the razor-sharp sting of the knife blade on his own tongue, nor does he realize his craving is actually being satisfied by his own warm blood, until the dawn finds the wolf dead in the snow. Tonight we have learned the ugly truth about SIN: SIN WILL ALWAYS TAKE YOU FARTHER THAN YOU PLAN TO GO...SIN WILL ALWAYS KEEP YOU LONGER THAN YOU PLAN TO STAY...and SIN WILL ALWAYS COST YOU MORE THAN YOU PLAN TO PAY. And just like the ARCTIC WOLF, you and I will be consumed by our own sinful lusts if we do not surrender our cravings to the power of GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT.