TL.5.5.2013
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
11 He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”
He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and tightened it with the pin.
Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.
17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazarite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her 3lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.
Hymn 88 “I Have Found a Friend in Jesus”
Hymn 428 “There’s Sunshine in My Soul Today”
Judges chapter 16.
The story of Samson and Delilah.
It is a story that both believers and nonbelievers know about.
It is a famous story.
Delilah is a famous woman.
Let us look at these two people and their story and see is there any relation to our lives.
If there is, then what are the ways that our lives can relate to this story?
Let us think about this.
Before reading today’s Scripture we sang the hymns “I Have Found a Friend in Jesus” and “There’s Sunshine in My Soul Today.”
When we sing these hymns what is the condition of you heart as you do so?
Joyful?
Glad?
What is your heart’s condition when you sing these hymns?
There is sunshine in my soul today, More glorious and bright.
It is a 4 over 4 rhythm.
I have found a friend in Jesus, He is everything to me.
We sang this hymn.
I am asking you, though we have sung these hymns, what was the condition of your heart as you did so.
If you sing these hymns by yourself on a regular basis, what is the condition of your heart as you sing?
I am curious to know if you have ever thought about that as you sing these hymns, this is why I am asking.
I wanted to compare that with the Scripture we read today and this is why I ask you.
There is no reply.
I can only say what I see and understand.
Hymn 88.
I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me. He’s the fairest of ten thousand in my soul.
It is very poetic and gives a good feeling.
The Lily of the valley, the bright Morning star.
It describes Jesus in a beautiful way.
But let us take a look at the third verse.
He will never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here, While I live by faith and do His blessed will.
Without giving all of my heart in complete faith I will be forsaken which is what you are also saying when you sing these words.
Do you want to be loved by Jesus?
Then you will be loved not by loving Him, but by following Him.
When you walk the path that Jesus has lived in obedience then you will not be forsaken.
A wall of fire around me, I’ve nothing now to fear, With His manna He my hungry souls shall fill, Then sweeping up in glory, I’ll see His blessed face where rivers of delight shall ever roll.
But what is the requirement in the beginning of verse three?
I must with all my heart follow Jesus in obedience.
I must do this first.
Though 99 percent is a extremely high percentage, in order to see His blessed face we need 100 percent.
The hymn “I Have Found a Friend In Jesus” starts off as a confession of love to Him, but in the end the words you confess are that off obedience in order to continue in His love and to never be forsaken.
The hymn “There’s Sunshine in My Soul Today” is a little different.
It starts off this way “There’s sunshine in my soul today, More glorious and bright,
Than glow in any earthly sky, for Jesus is my light.
Then it says, “There’s music in my soul today, A carol to my king”
“There’s springtime in my soul today, For when the soul is near”
“There’s gladness in my soul today, And hope and praise and love,
“For blessings which He gives me now, For joys “laid up” above.”
Hymn 428 is about meeting the Lord first and then being filled with joy and song.
After you meet the Lord then there is springtime in your soul, there is gladness and He gives you blessings.
Though the hymns seem similar, in hymn 88 (I Have Found a Friend in Jesus) you look to the Lord and draw near to Him.
You know in your mind about who Jesus is.
And as you knew more about Him, you decide one day to commit and follow Him.
Then you are filled with His love and receive the blessings of your faith.
There are those who have chosen to follow the Lord later though they have known about Him for quite some time.
Like those who have been going to church since their mother’s womb.
Then there are those who the Lord has revealed Himself to, later in their lives and this is where someone may sing the hymn in 428. (There is Sunshine in My Soul Today)
Those whose life are like that of hymn 88 do not understand the ones whose testimony is like that of hymn 428.
And there are also times when someone whose testimony is like that of hymn 428 do not understand the testimony of someone who is like that of hymn 88.
Though we are sitting here together we do not understand each other’s testimony.
The reason is because there are those who have known about Jesus since their birth and others who have been made known of Him later.
There are many different sequence of events that may happen before someone hears about Jesus.
This is possible.
I am saying that there are events that arise in order to bring one to the knowledge of Jesus.
In last weeks quiet time readings one of the topics was about complete abandonment of oneself.
The test of abandonment is refusing to think that “this much is good enough.”
It says to think that you are good enough is evidence that you have not truly surrendered everything.
When our Lord speaks to us and tells us to abandon ourselves, to die to ourselves and to let go of everything, but when we respond “Lord, isn’t this enough?”
This means we have not abandoned it all.
“Lord, what about this?”
This is not abandoning.
What is the reason that one is unable to completely surrender?
Because the truth is you do not believe in God, you are unable to believe in Him.
If you believe in God whole heartedly then why would you not be able to completely follow Him.
The desire and thoughts that you must do something, the feelings of resistance are not of surrender but of unbelief in God.
When you truly surrender to God and put your trust in Him, then even the act of asking God about having to let go is unnecessary.
What point is there in asking?
If God says to do then you do it, if He says do not do it, then you do not need to do it.
When you ask the reason why, then you are only arguing.
When you say why can’t I, you are only arguing.
That is not right.
Since you have surrendered, there is nothing to ask, but only to say yes.
This is complete surrender.
“And once you do get to that point of total surrender to Him, you will be the most surprised and delighted person on earth. God will have you absolutely, without any limitations, and He will have given you your life.”
This is what was written in the quiet time reading.
“If you are not there, it is either because of disobedience in your life or your refusal to be simple enough.”
You have too many thoughts.
We say children are simple.
They are not trying to make excuses.
It is easy to just say “yes” and do.
But us, we say “rather than do it that way it is better to do it this way.”
Or we ask “do we really have to do it that way?”
This means that we are not completely surrendered and living in disobedience.
“The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty.”
We do not receive first and then follow the Lord after.
When He told the Israelites to follow Him, and the priest that carried the Ark of the Covenant put their feet into the Jordan river, then the water stopped flowing.
When you get your feet wet you think that if you continue you will drown.
But God works differently.
Did He tell the Israelites that if they circled Jericho in that manner the walls would fall down?
No.
He simply commanded them to circle them without giving a reason.
Once a day of six days and seven times on the seventh day.
He did not say that He was going to make the walls fall when they did so.
To follow in certainty in the midst of uncertainty is to live in the spirit.
In the world we live in we are accustomed to doing things with certainty. Adding 1 plus 1 which gives us 2. We have made ourselves these habits of making sure of the things that we think that we can control.
This is the reasoning we use when it comes to our faith.
“Certainty is the common place life.”
Did we get the signature?
Did we get the receipt?
Did we receive the payment?
Is it in our hands?
We make sure that we have things that give us certainty.
But before God, our lives are about uncertainty.
Have you seen God?
Many people say they believe God.
We say we believe Jesus.
We say we believe and put our trust in Him.
When we desire to have the Word of God be applicable in our lives, then my life is a life of uncertainty.
When you open your business doors, you do not know how many customers will be coming or not come today.
Is there anyone who knows?
There are doctors that have scheduled appointments, but even those who are scheduled may not come, and also there may be emergency cases who need to be seen immediately.
You can never be for certain.
To truly follow God is to live a life of uncertainty.
But when we live by our standards of thinking then we kill off the faith we have in God.
We do that which we desire to do.
We do what we think is important then faith in God diminishes.
“But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.”
This is what was in one of last weeks quiet time studies.
I say to myself that this is the life that I should be living, but truthfully, I who raise my voice to you, stumble at times.
Why?
It is my thoughts, my calculations, all the things that don’t add up in my head, that cause me to stumble.
When I stumble, it would be a blessing if I found clarity, but when I am bound by it...
Yesterday, all day, no matter how much I desired to overcome, because I could not find peace, and having gone to bed without resolution I could not sleep.
I spent all night suffering.
I knew it would happen and prepared by going to bed early.
I thought I had found the reason for my troubles yesterday, narrowed it down to 99 percent and then let it go.
But there was 1 percent that I did not resolve.
As we sang hymns I continued to stumble because of it.
I keep falling and getting up.
The things of the spirit are powerful, once they grab a hold of you, they do not go away easily.
We say 100 percent.
If I truly put faith in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit 100 percent, then I should be clean.
But it was not 100 percent but 99 and the 1 percent is what keeps me stumbling as I stand here before you.
When I look at myself, the more I try to lay things down in my life, if the life I live is not more cleanly, then it only becomes more difficult.
Everyone is dressed in a different color.
Whose clothes would you be able to see the slightest blemish?
The one wearing white.
Then should the one who wears white be more cautious then others?
When you wear dark clothing, then whether you sit on the ground or get a little dirty, you are not aware of it easily.
So when you act without worry you do not know that you are staining yourself.
But if you dressed clean in white, like Tara, then will she eat in whatever manner spilling food on herself?
Would she just sit on the ground anywhere?
She would take extra care to wipe the place before she sits.
You would naturally take more care to prevent yourself from getting dirty.
As you behavior changes depending on the clothing you wear, then as you lay down yourself before the Lord, more and more each day, more today than yesterday,
then because you are being cleansed and being sanctified, you must be more righteous.
Your thoughts, your speech, if it is the same today as it was yesterday, today your clothes will only become more dirty.
Our spirit will be in the midst of suffering.
Why in more suffering? Because the Lord desires that you are more clean today than yesterday, and to the degree to which He is making you clean, He will through your suffering bring you to repentance, so that you can be holy.
These are levels that we pass through in the walk of our spiritual lives as we go toward eternity.
I spoke about hymn 88 and 428.
The Lord today wants to give you abundant grace and power.
But more importantly if you grab a hold of Jesus, and if you serve Jesus, and you are filled with the Holy Spirit...
Who owns grace?
Who holds power?
Who is it?
Let us say you desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you want the power of the Holy Spirit.
You ask the Holy Spirit to give you the power to love, the power to heal sickness.
People pray.
If that is the case...
The Bible speaks of the nine gifts of the Spirit.
To attain the nine gifts then you must pray nine different prayers.
Is that right?
Is it wrong?
Right or wrong?
If there are nine things that my child needs and I have all nine of them, then they can ask me for it one by one for all nine of them, as we can also do in prayer.
But the nine items are in a bag.
Then what is the only thing that you need ask for?
You just need to ask for the bag.
Then you can take all the items in the bag at once.
Then when we pray is it better to ask for the nine gifts of the Spirit or better to ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit Himself?
To be filled with the Holy Spirit covers it all.
All is taken care of.
We think that God gives to us one by one.
When God works through us by the Holy Spirit, we have already been given everything.
But we, the one who receive, use the gifts improperly, and that is why we are only capable of revealing one, two or three of the gifts.
Maybe we heal sickness, maybe have the gift of prayer...
But we have been given everything through the Holy Spirit so that we may live the lives that bear the fruit of Jesus.
But we only use the gift that we want when we need it and this is why we do not bear abundant fruit.
To look at this is another way, let us say I have all nine of the gift.
When we lose the gifts it would be nice to lose it one at a time, but what happens when you lose the bag that holds all nine items.
Then you have lost everything.
If I have been living in the Spirit but later troubled Him and the Lord and cause them to be quiet in my life, and then leave, after I have caused them to leave me, what do you think would happen if I call out to Him because I need Him now?
Jesus has already left me.
The Spirit has already left me because I have troubled Him.
Then will the answer that I receive for my prayer be an accurate answer?
Think about it.
You have already lost everything.
Let us see through the example of Samson and Delilah how important it is to hold onto the bag that contains the gifts that you have been given.
Samson was born as a Nazirite and given the power over Philistines.
It was through a promise given to him by God.
He lived as a judge that would save Israel with his incredible strength.
Samson was a man that ruined his life because of women.
When we look at the story of Samson, we see that through the promise of not cutting his hair, God gave him everything.
But the enemy, by simply cutting his hair, would cause him to be separated from God.
Adam and Eve ate the fruit of knowledge and were separated from God.
In our lives today, through some circumstance, if I do something which is like eating of the fruit in disobedience, we forget that we are separating ourselves from God.
Whatever it may be, we get tempted by the bait, and the moment we take a bite of it, all that we did for the Lord, healing the sick, the prophesying, all that we did diligently for God, but we take bite of the fruit and sin, then what do you think will happen as a consequence.
There are many servants of God who are famous.
We have seen with our own eyes what happens to them when they fall after having taken bite if the bait that was before them.
It is one incident that separates us from God so the devil will do anything in his power without rest to tempt us and make us fall.
Through our children, the ones we love, husband, wife, money, status, the habits we have in our lives, our stubbornness, we can’t count the number of ways in which he is trying to make us fall.
When I look at myself and the things that cause me to stumble, it is my pride, my stubbornness, my face, all the things I use to protect myself, which are the things that allow me to stumble the most.
If my neighbor, children or my wife falls, then I can see it and tell them.
But when someone speaks words that seems to bother my pride, then though it be something that shouldn’t be a stumbling point, you may end up suffering the night without any sleep because you have allowed to be one.
Look at Samson.
How foolishly he behaves.
It is understandable when someone suddenly falls without warning.
But three times.
The woman tied him up once.
Then when he awoke he should have been aware that after listening to what he had said she was trying to take away his strength.
He should have waken up and not continued further.
Let us say that it happened a second time.
Let us say then it happens a third time.
It said that she nagged him until he was tired until the point of death.
Is she the only woman that he must be with?
Is there no one else?
Today we are told to let go of our pride and our will, should we not throw it away?
Why?
It is because of one thing that we are caused to fall.
You are not attacked on every front, but in this example, it is through one woman, Delilah, through which other temptations come in.
Let us say that your health suffers, or you lack financially, or you are having problems with pride.
It is through that one problem, through which we are constantly attacked from here and there, until we fall, which ultimately separates us from God.
Samson was constantly being tempted by Delilah until he confessed the truth.
If I too were in Samson’s position would I be doing the same thing?
Do not get lost and think about being in love with a woman but look at the spiritual truth.
Look at this and apply it in our lives.
As Samson held Delilah lovingly in his arms we too hold dearly onto our stubbornness, pride, and face, like Delilah, embracing and holding these in love in our own arms daily.
If someone comes to me and tells me that I have issues concerning pride and stubbornness then without knowing it I stumble.
These are the things which we must bring before the Word and kill and throw away.
Because I serve the Lord in my heart, I must not reveal myself, but humble myself to reveal the Lord.
I must surrender in death to the cross, and stay on it.
But we come running off of the cross.
Like Samson who spills the truth to Delilah, we vent our anger and cut ourselves off from God.
This foolishness is within us.
Though I too suffer from this, I only do so less often and in less duration, because the Lord is leading me to do His work and making me more sensitive to His teaching and guidance.
As I go through this path, what I want to share with you who also go this path, is the easy way is to let it all down.
Death is not committing suicide by taking away your breath, but it is the death of your pride, death of your will.
You hold onto it thinking that you need and therefore cannot get rid of it.
When you kill the desire that you are the one who must do, then the Lord will do what He will through you.
We sang “There is sunshine in my soul today”, Samson lived a life where God was present and worked through him.
But what is important is that through one incident, he was tempted into giving away the truth, and had his eyes gouged and sent to work in prison grinding.
When I look at Samson and look at myself, what is important is not that I have met the Lord and that there is sunshine in my soul, but I must live a life that no matter what temptation may come, I would not separate myself from the Lord.
I must live this life continually in order to receive the abundant blessings that God desires for me.
Hymn 428, when I live a life that reflects God’s glory and do so continually, then in my soul I will continue to sing praises, I will be glad, there will be hope, praise and love.
When I live continually seeking to give glory to God, then He will continue to give me blessings.
If I have seen the Lord and met Him but do not have these blessings in my life then...
There is a story where the sun and wind wagered to see who could make the man who was passing by remove his clothes.
What can we learn from this story?
There are many things we can learn from stories and this is why we have them.
What did the wind do?
The stronger he blew the person covered himself more.
He could not make the person remove their clothes.
The sun.
As the sun grew hotter, the person removed his clothes.
Right?
Today there is sunshine in my soul.
Today I have met the Lord.
Then daily as the sunshines within me, I am not to cover up my pride and stubbornness but rather I must daily remove those things that the sun is exposing.
If the sunshine within but I cover myself up more and refuse to rid myself of the pride and sin, then will I be able to receive God’s blessings?
You will not be able to.
If you truly desire to receive the blessings of God, then you must daily remove the sin nature from within you. Then you will be blessed.
Then though you be tempted like Samson, and all the things of this world tries to tempt you, you will not fall into sin and live a focused life of faith.
How beautiful was this woman that even though she tried to steal away his strength, he would lay his head on her lap and go to sleep?
When I see myself, though I see sunshine in my soul today, the refusal to throw away my pride, may be because I am in embraced by the arms of Delilah.
This is possible.
But I am not saying this because it is to be, but if this so, then what are we to do?
If this is so, then my spiritual eyes will be gouged out and I will be bound as a slave because of my sin.
Is this what you want your life to be?
Nobody wants this.
In the time you have been given, with the ability that you have been given, the work that God desires to do through you, do you not humble yourself before God in order to be completely used by Him?
Then as you receive the sunshine in your soul, then daily remove the sin in your life.
The more you remove the more sensitive you will be to the spiritual trials that come to you.
Because you will be more sensitive today than yesterday, as you remove your old self, at times it will be embarrassing, you will feel ashamed, your pride will be hurt, but when it is time to remove those things, you must be the person who is capable of doing so bravely.
Then you will be able to receive the blessings God has for you.
As you become this person, then as in hymn 88, you will be the one who gives their whole heart to follow Jesus until the end.
And when you decide to follow and do so with all your heart, He will never ever forsake you, and there will be nothing for you to fear for He will be the wall of fire around you and sweeping up to glory, and you will see His blessed face as you enter into His kingdom.
Shouldn’t we be the kind of Christian that lives completely in God’s will?
In order to do so, when the Lord persuades us so that we can be formed into His image, may we listen to His Word the way He means it to be, and may we understand its truth, live in obedience, and please the Lord.
When I live my life in union with the Lord, it is not I who is revealed, but it is Jesus who is revealed.
May this be the life that you choose to live.
Sermon by Pastor Howard Park
Translation by Miguel Park
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