THE SEDUCTION OF SENSUALITY

“With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, With her flattering lips she seduced him. Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, Till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, He did not know it would cost his life. Now therefore, listen to me, my children; Pay attention to the words of my mouth: Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, Do not stray into her paths; For she has cast down many wounded, And all who were slain by her were strong men. Her house is the way to hell, Descending to the chambers of death.” (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭7:21-27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

Will our life be directed by a mind of wisdom, or will it be driven by carnal passions?  The Holy Spirit can govern and guide us in alignment with Scripture or we can surrender to the baser instincts of the flesh.  It is a daily battle in a fallen world, and we must arm young people with truth so they may resist the downward drag.

Our world is obsessed with sensuality. Advertisers use it to capture our attention in selling everything from hamburgers to automobiles to tropical vacations and more.  Pornographers lure our children into sexual addiction through the internet. Where one once had to sneak into some dark alley and find some purveyor of smut, it is now just a click away.

How many homes are wrecked because of unfaithfulness to marriage?  There have been scores of men and women I have counseled across the years, whose hearts have been broken by a spouse’s unfaithfulness.  It seems daily there is a news story of a teacher seducing a student, or a murder of a spouse carried out by a conspiring man and his mistress.  Then, there are the unplanned pregnancies and the wanton destruction of the babies by abortion.

Sexual sin takes its toll.  Sensual, sinful acts breed disease.  Many will carry a sexually transmitted disease to their grave, and that grave may be opened far sooner than it ought.  We dug it ourselves by our folly.  This is the high cost of low-living.  The pleasure is real, but the price tag is far too expensive. 

THE WAGES OF SIN

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.  (Judges 16:30)

Sin and death walked hand in hand into the Garden of Eden.  God had warned Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed Him they would die.  James described the process this way, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”  (1:14-15)  Samson stands as a living illustration of this truth.

His life was marked by compromise (Judges 16:1-3).  Little by little, he abandoned his consecration to God.  Flirtation with the world leads to friendship with the world; friendship then leads to courtship; courtship leads to spiritual adultery.  What Samson saw, he desired, and what he desired, he experienced.  He was a mighty man who could beat back a thousand soldiers, but could not conquer the beguiling form of a female.  This would, at last, be his Achilles’ heel.

Samson’s judgment was clouded by the intoxicating charm of a woman (Judges 16:4-21).  This brought him into the arms of Delilah and that would bring his doom.  His relationship with her—as in the many before—was utterly sensual and not spiritual.  Samson fell—not because he was too weak—but, was too strong.  He was brim full of pride.  After all, he had never lost a fight.  He should have run from Delilah’s den like his pants were on fire.  Scripture says, “Flee fornication.”  Instead he takes the serpent to his chest and plays with it.  He gets by for a while.  Then the venomous fangs bring deadly poison into his life.  Delilah rocks him to sleep.  Samson had forsaken two-thirds of his Nazarite vow, and now abandoned the rest.  Strike three and you’re out!  His hair was not the source of his power, but it was in his dedication to God that his long hair represented.  The Lord departed from him, and what is even worse—Samson did not know it.  Sin binds, it blinds, and it grinds.  Samson’s arms would no longer hold a beautiful woman, but they would be held by bronze fetters—sin binds.  His eyes would never again look with lust at a lovely woman—sin blinds.  He would become a beast of burden—sin grinds.

The Bible solemnly warns, “The wages of sin is death,” (Rom.6:23).  Samson’s story comes to that predicted end (Judges 16:22-31).  Instead of bringing glory to God, Samson inspired the Philistines to honor their idol, Dagon, and rejoice in his victory over the God of Israel.  When believers fall—especially leaders of God’s people—it results in hell rejoicing.  Thankfully, Samson finally sought the Lord in repentance.  “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”  (Rom.5:20b).  In the end, Samson conquered by crying out to God instead of calling on his own resources.  In the final act of this tragedy, he brought down the house.

Frank Sinatra’s song, “My Way,” which is an ode to stubborn, self-centeredness that refuses to pursue any other way than one’s own way, has been popular and recorded often since Sinatra first crooned it.  It could have been Samson’s theme song.  Remember, however, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”  (Prov.14:12)