5/10/19 

Judges 16:20

²⁰ And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.

This is one of, if not the most sorrowful statements in the Bible.  Yet at the same time it is so full of instruction.

Let us look at the two most instructive truths in the statement.

1.      I Thessalonians 5:19

¹⁹ Quench not the Spirit.

The loss of God’s presence is a danger we seldom mention or even think of happening to us.  But it is a very real danger.  Let us admit David might have had the example of Sampson before him when he wrote Psalm 51:11.

¹¹ Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Samson had transgressed mightily prior to his haircut.  Yet he had not progressed past the point of no return.  But, then he did; and though he did not know it, “the Spirit departed”.

2.      Joshua 7:4-5

 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. ⁵ And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

Samson’s experience is not unique.  Neither his defeat nor his failure to recognize prior to defeat, his weakness.  One of the worst results of the Holy Spirit departing is the failure to realize the absence of His presence.

The church wails and flails with apparent powerlessness and seems ignorant of the reason.  When was the last time we really took seriously Zechariah 4:5-7.

⁵ Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

⁶ Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

⁷ Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

 The prevalence of Pelagianism is to the Gospel a haircut.