"AVOIDING SATAN'S CLIP-JOINT!"

Written and preached by David P. Nolte



JUDGES 16:1-22

A man entered a barber shop and was enjoying a shave and a manicure. "You're cute" he said to the manicurist. "How about a date tonight?" she said, "No way! I'm married!" "Big deal!" said the man, "Phone the bum and tell him you have to work late!" "You tell him!" she countered, "He's shaving you!" That man got a real close shave! I want to tell you about Samson, a man who also got a close shave. To do that, I first want to tell you about 9 year old Toby. He refused to heed his mother's warnings about hitching rides behind cars on his bike. He liked to grab onto the back of a car as it was leaving a parking place to be towed a ways before the driver realized he was there. Then he'd let go and coast, every time setting himself up for a close shave with death! One day he grabbed the back of a huge dump truck for a ride. Dangerous! Foolish! But not more foolish or dangerous than the course chosen by Samson who visited the devil's barber shop and really got sheared! May we avoid that clip joint and retain our integrity! Here are some guidelines:
  1. BEWARE OF FLIRTING WITH TEMPTATIONS:
    1. In this passage the temptation is personified in Delilah! She was a real character, but symbolizes the allurements of evil! She distracted the heart of Samson from the lord! She wunk her wink and he was trapped!
    2. He thought it was just romance! He was a growing boy! She was attractive! He had a crush on her! It was love! But she was the subtle means of his downfall! She used trickery, guile, and deceit! There was danger in her "Come hither!" look.
    3. Delilah is like the woman in Proverbs 9:13-18: "The woman folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. 'Let all who are simple come in here!' she says to those who lack judgment. 'Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!' but little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave."
    4. To many, dabbling with temptation might seem daring, spicy, challenging; but it's deadly! But listen:
      1. Proverbs 6:25-28: "Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, And the adulteress preys upon your very life. Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?"
      2. Ecclesiastes 10:1: "As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor."
      3. Galatians 6:7, 8: "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life."
      4. Guthrie said: "Abjure every scene, abstain from every pleasure, abandon every pursuit which tends to sin, dulls the fine edge of conscience, unfits for religious duties, indisposes for religious enjoyments, sends you prayerless to bed, or drowsy to prayer. Give these a wide berth, and hold straight away under a press of canvas in your course to heaven."
      5. Swindoll: "Do not try to co-exist peacefully with temptation. If you are weakened by certain kinds of music, you are playing into the hands of Satan himself to listen to it. If you're weakened by certain ... pictures that bring before your eyes things that build desires within you that you can't handle, then you're not counteracting sin and temptation. You're tolerating it. You're fertilizing it. You're prompting it. If the newsstand is something you can't handle, stay away from it! ... if you're weakened by relationships with certain people, abstain from them." That's good advice; we'd do well to heed it!

Now, Toby would have done well to heed mom and stay away from hitching rides. He grabbed onto the dump truck anyhow. Unexpectedly, the driver, who couldn't see Toby, shifted into reverse. Toby was suddenly and without warning in big trouble! Samson didn't take long to get into trouble, either. Quick as a snip of the shears he was divested of his strength. Thinking himself master of the situation, Samson played a dangerous game; first he kidded her along (but he was really kidding himself!) and then he revealed his real secret: his hair! And she had it snipped off leaving him weaker than a babe! There's an insight we ought not miss:

  1. BEWARE OF LETTING SATAN SNIP OFF YOUR SOURCE OF STRENGTH:
    1. By breaking the vow of the Nazirite, which included never having his hair cut, Samson was severed from God, the source of power. When he was cut off from God, he was cut off from his strength.
    2. How did he come to get shaved? He made 2 major mistakes:
      1. Being there in the first place! Delilah was an immoral woman and an enemy of God's people!
      2. Then by opening his heart to her! Intimacy made him vulnerable: "Here's how you can render me helpless and kill me!"
    3. In just that way we make ourselves vulnerable to Satan's shaving by
      1. First, playing with temptation! Consider it, invite it in, mull it over and then give it a seat!
      2. Then, becoming enamored with sin! We open our heart to it. We find it pleasurable! We care more for being happy than being holy; for having fun than being faithful, for being riotous than being righteous.!
      3. Finally, falling prey to the secular, godless world:
        1. 1 John 2:16: defines "world" as "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life ..."
        2. James 4:4: says, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."
    4. When we do that, Satan shaves us and consequently snips off our resources of strength:
      1. Our prayer life dwindles and Satan snips off our source of strength.
      2. We don't study the bible and Satan snips off our source of strength.
      3. Our church attendance falls off and Satan snips off our source of strength.
      4. We don't share our faith as we ought and Satan snips off our source of strength.
      5. We think, "Just this once won't hurt!" and Satan snips off our source of strength.
      6. When that happens, we are in a perilous, dangerous position that can lead to spiritual death!

Toby, too was in a perilous condition. The dump ruck backed up so quickly that he had no chance to get out of the way and the double wheels of the truck ran over the boy and the bike, crushing both of Toby's legs. He lingered between life and death for weeks in the hospital. What had taken a second to accomplish required months of therapy to heal -- and Toby never did totally recover. He was crippled as a result of foolish preoccupation with a little fun. Samson's inclination to jest, to party, to have a good time cost him dearly in the end. His inclination to do what was easy, fun, lighthearted brought him hardship, misery and an unbearable burden. His freedom became bondage. Listen carefully to what this teaches us:

  1. BEWARE OF TRADING FREEDOM FOR SLAVERY:
    1. Samson didn't decide to be a slave! He didn't go to the local slave market and volunteer. He just made the choices that resulted in slavery! God called him to deliver the people but instead of being the deliverer he needed deliverance!
    2. In compromising his morals, he forsook obedience to God and bondage was the outcome!
    3. Listen! Don't exchange freedom for slavery!
      1. Romans 6:12-16: "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?"
      2. 2 Peter 2:18-19: "For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity - for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him."
      3. Galatians 5:1: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
      4. John 8:32: "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
    4. Matthew Henry said: "Satan ruins men by rocking them asleep, flattering them into a good opinion of their own safety, and so bringing them to mind nothing and fear nothing, and then he robs them of their strength and honor and leads them captive at his will. If we sleep in the lap of our lusts, we shall certainly wake in the hands of the philistines." When we are careless, as Toby was, and as was Samson, Satan will win the day!

Toby was able to disobey mother; he was able to go against all that is prudent and wise and safe. But he was not able to control the consequences, the ramifications, the outcome of his choices. Samson was able to strangle the life out of a lion, but he couldn't choke his own lust. He broke the ropes of his enemies, but he couldn't break the bonds of his own passions. He burned the crops of the philistines, but he couldn't control the fire of his own desires. All of us are subject to the same allurements, the same traps! We all need to exercise alertness for Satan still prowls like a lion seeking someone to devour. We all need to practice diligence, self-discipline and restraint. We all need to resist the evil one firm in our faith. When we do we have the unfailing promise of the unfailing God: James 4:7: "submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." We don't have to serve sin; we don't have to be in bondage! Jesus Christ sets us free; and whom the son frees, is free indeed! Be free in him. But freedom in Christ begins with surrender to him; that's the call, the challenge today. Surrender all to him for freedom.

Story adapted from an unknown source


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