1. A preacher was preaching a weird message on prophecy one time at a pastor’s meeting. After going into detail on the meaning of the ten horns on the head of the fourth beast in Daniel 7, an old preacher leaned over to the young preacher sitting next to him and said: "Preach the old and familiar texts."
2. Today I will preach an old and familiar text, the story of Samson and Delilah. I have entitled it, "The Man Who Fell Asleep in the Devil’s Barbershop."
3. There are many strange characters in the Bible, and one that has always fascinated me is Samson.
4. He was a man called by God to be a judge over Israel during a time of terrible apostasy (cf. 17:6; 21:25).
5. And despite his many shortcomings, God was still able to use him. He is referred to as a man of faith in Hebrews 11:32.
6. God was able to use him because God is sovereign and uses us despite our failures and shortcomings. God rules in the affairs of men (cf. 14:1-4).
7. Concerning 14:1-4, let me say this: Even though God used Samson’s disobedience as an opportunity to punish the wicked Philistines, Samson was still wrong for disobeying his parents, and God still held him accountable.

1. STARTING OUT WELL DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL END UP WELL (JUDGES 13).

1. Samson had good parents (13:1-25).

1. The angel of the LORD appeared unto Samson’s mother (13:1-3). This was probably the pre-incarnate Christ (13:17,18,22).
2. Samson had a praying father (13:8). Some of you have what I do not have – a praying father. I had a drinking father! Samson’s father knew the LORD and wanted to raise his son right (13:8b,11,12).
3. Samson’s parents did not want him to marry an unsaved girl (14:1-3). Samson sounds like many of the elf-indulgent people of today – "Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well" (14:3,7).

2. Samson had a life-long Nazarite vow (13:5; cf. Numbers 6:1-8).
3. NOTE: I Cor.11:14 says that it is shameful for a man to have long hair but the Nazarites were considered "shameful" for their testimony for God.
4. Samson was endued with power from on high, i.e. the Holy Spirit came upon him (13:24,25; 14:5,6,19; 15:14-16).
5. So it is obvious that Samson got off to a good start in life – he had godly parents; the Holy Spirit came upon him in a mighty way; he was chosen by God to be a Nazarite as well as a judge.
6. But please remember that starting out well does not guarantee that you will end up well.

2. SAMSON WASTED THE GIFTS GOD GAVE HIM BECAUSE HE LACKED DISCIPLINE AND SELF-CONTROL (JUDGES 14,15).

1. Samson had a weakness for women – like our ex-president (14:1-3; 16:1-4).
2. Samson was a riddle-maker (14:8-18).
3. Samson liked to play pranks on people (14:19---15:5).
4. When Samson fought, it was more out of vengeance than anything else (15:6-20). Compare Samson with David (I Sam.17:29,45-47).

3. SAMSON DID NOT TAKE GOD’S CALLING SERIOUSLY AND THIS LED TO HIS DOWNFALL (JUDGES 16).

1. God’s servants must stay away from sin but Samson failed over and over (16:1-4).
2. Samson made no effort to avoid temptation. I read about a man who kept driving around the city trying to find a parking spot but finally gave up and parked in a "No Parking Zone." He wrote a note and stuck it under his windshield: ‘I have circled this block 20 times. I have an appointment to keep. Forgive us our trespasses." When he returned to his car later, he found a ticket with this note: "I have circled this block for 20 years. If I don’t give you a ticket, I will lose my job. Lead us not into temptation."
3. Samson trifled with the things of God (16:4-15).
4. Samson ran up the white flag and surrendered to the devil (16:16,17). He had already lost to the world and the flesh!
5. He fell asleep in the devil’s barbershop (16:14-19).
6. Samson was too self-confident – "I will go out…" (16:20).
7. Samson was deluded and deceived – "And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him" (16:20b).
8. Samson was captured and blinded and humiliated (16:21).
9. But thank God there is always hope (16:22).
10. Samson lost his strength, his vision, and his testimony for God (cf. 16:25). But when he called out to God, God heard his prayer (16:28-31).

CONCLUSION:

1. Samson was able to defeat the strongest of men, yet he was defeated and humiliated by a woman.
2. This story in our Bibles is a warning – we need to be careful and diligent. We cannot play around with sin.
3. Just as Delilah tried to take away Samson’s strength, Satan will attempt to rob us of our spiritual strength.
4. He does this by wearing down our resistance through worldly friends, worldly music, worldly movies and TV shows, etc.
5. Beware of anything that keeps you away from reading the Bible or doing what you’re supposed to be doing.
6. Beware of anything that makes sin look attractive.
7. Be careful or you could wind up like Samson. Whenever a Christian ruins his or her testimony, worldly people laugh and feel more secure in their sin (16:23-25).