Samson and Delilah

Believers, do you know how Delilah was able to convince Samson to tell her the secret of his strength? It was with these words in Judges 16:15 -

“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.”

She pressed him day and night to prove his love for her with some action! Samson loved her. She knew it. But in order to deliver him to the Philistines/destroy him, she needed him to prove it with some action.

This is the same technique that the devil deployed during the temptation of our Lord Jesus, trying to make our Lord prove that He was the Son of God when He forever is! Today his tactics haven’t changed. He still tries to tell you (through your thoughts and unfortunately through some pastors and leaders) that your righteousness is a product of what you do or do not do (law-keeping), when we already have righteousness as a gift from our Heavenly Father (Romans 5:17, 2 Corinthians 5:21)!

Moreso Galatians 5:4 tells us that it is keeping the law in order to be righteous that makes Christ of no effect in the lives of believers! - "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Today's Delilahs are still very busy helping the devil do his work by telling believers that they are not righteous because of something they did or didn't do, and some don't even know it! The bible says all have sinned. James 2:10 says if you are guilty of one sin, you are guilty of all. Galatians 3:11 says "But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident,..." Even the law-keeping Pharisees could not stone the woman caught in adultery because of their sins, and these were the guardians of the law! Of ourselves, we all fall short! Believers, it is not what you do or do not do that makes you righteous in God's sight. His righteousness is a gift (Romans 5:17)

Yet in our churches, we have Premier League-like tables of righteousness where believers in Sunderland are being condemned for not playing well enough/being at the bottom of the league and only the pastors seem to play for Manchester City! This league table represents man's ability to do good and avoid sinning (keep the law); no matter how many goals you score or how well you play, none can be made righteous by scoring points on this table (the law) - Galatians 3:11 - "But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident,..."

May the Lord open our eyes to see His Truth! Telling the people that it is their ability to stop sinning that makes them righteous or saved is like Samson thinking that He can be strong and do exploits without his hair! Believers, do you want to know why our Lord God sees us as righteous, without spot or blemish? Here it is: 2 Corinthians 5:21 "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Jesus took our sins and gave us His righteousness. This righteousness frees us from condemnation. It is this gift of condemnation that makes us go and sin no more.

Without his hair (today, the grace of God in our lives; the Lord as our Strength and Righteousness), Samson was easy prey to the Philistines. Like Samson when he lost his strength (God's free gift), many believers have discarded their freely-given strength and righteousness (found only in our Lord Jesus) and are blinded and imprisoned (to and by the law). And under the law, there is the curse and judgment!

Like Samson, many believers have been reduced to prison grinders, going around in circles, living life by their human high priests' rules and regulations, going from one deliverance session to the other. 

Samson as a prison grinder

There is no rest that Jesus promised here. No “My peace I give to you.” No “Let not your heart be troubled….” No “free indeed.” It is a non-stop cycle of fear, anxiety, stress and attacks. It is a lot of motion without much movement; a lot of activity without much progress, just like Samson working the grinder in his Gaza prison (image below.) Even the smallest Philistine child with a whip could do plenty of damage to him!

God hates sin (because it separates us from Him and it hurts us). He loves us so much that He made His Son to be sin for us so that we can be made righteous in Him. It is a gift . We cannot earn it via abstinence from sin and good works. We cannot earn it at all. We do not deserve it. it is a gift of love. It is grace - undeserved, unmerited favour.

Because the Lord is our Righteousness, there is no more condemnation for us for our sins. Like the woman caught in adultery, our Lord's gift of no condemnation makes us go and sin no more! Because of this gift, we reign in life - reign over sin, sickness, worry, fear, stress- all ills! But many believers put the horse before the cart.

Romans 5:17 says "For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)"

This is the way to stop sinning! Not more laws and condemnation, which kill.

When you think your dress is dirty (you are not righteous), you have no qualms getting a little more dirt on it. When you are dressed in your Sunday best (as the righteousness of God in Christ), you don't want to get dirty. In fact, you run from places where it is likely that you will get dirty. It is instinctive. It is transformation by the Holy Spirit.

Check out Paul's message (1 Corinthians 6 ) to the Christians in Corinth who were visiting prostitutes! He told them in 1 Corinthians 6:15 - "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!"

19 "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?"

Pastors and leaders, when believers do wrong, correct them without condemnation because Christ does not condemn them. Tell them who and whose they are in Christ and how much they are loved and let God's grace do the rest. He sees their need for saving and He will save them from their sins.

Knowing that we are loved so much by God, knowing that we have His righteousness as a gift paid for with the blood of our Saviour Jesus; knowing that our bodies are members of Christ; knowing that when we treat our bodies anyhow, we squander what God paid the highest price for, knowing how much we are forgiven and loved, knowing the Truth is what sets free. It is what makes believers keep themselves from (such) sins - not more laws and condemnation, which just perpetuate the cycle.

Our Lord's gift of no condemnation through the righteousness of faith is what makes us go and sin no more. Don't let anyone preach a haircut into your life like Samson! The Lord has freely blessed you with His gift of righteousness in Christ.

Believe Right and you will Live Right!