Walking By Sight and Not By Faith

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 104
• Hymn — Psalm 104A
• Prayer of Invocation
• Heidelberg Catechism Reading — Lord's Day 11, Questions 29–30
• Hymn — My Song Is Love Unknown (#326)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — Take My Life and Let It Be (#538)
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: Walking by Sight and Not by Faith

Scripture: Judges 16:1-22

I. The Eyes of the Flesh Lead to Disordered Affections

A. Samson serves as a microcosm of all Israel — doing what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25, Judges 14:1-3)

1. In Judges 16:1, Samson sees a prostitute and goes in to her — his eyes again lead him astray
2. His eyes being gouged out is fitting judgment: live by the eyes, die by the eyes

B. Delilah is the first named woman in the Samson narrative — her name means "flirt" or "one of amorous behavior"

1. She is a Proverbs 5 woman, not a Proverbs 31 woman
2. For the first time, Samson is said to love a woman — his heart and affections have followed his eyes

C. The deeper problem is not merely what the eyes see, but what lies unchecked in the heart

1. James 1:14 — each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his own desire; the eyes do not create desire but awaken what is already there
2. David had a problem in his heart before he saw Bathsheba; Samson had a problem before he saw Delilah
3. John Flavel, Keeping the Heart: "A neglected heart is a leak at the bottom"
4. The antidote is not merely "be careful what you look at" but Proverbs 4:23 — "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life"

II. The Eyes of the Flesh Lead to Lack of Duty

A. Samson plays foolish games with Delilah across three episodes while the Philistines lie in ambush

1. Seven fresh bowstrings — he breaks free
2. New ropes — he breaks free
3. Seven locks woven into a web — he breaks free
4. Finally worn down, he divulges his secret

B. Contrast: in verses 1–3, Samson is alert and escapes Gaza; now, captured by Delilah, he is playful rather than watchful

C. Parallel with David in 2 Samuel 11:1 — at the time when kings go out to battle, David remained in Jerusalem, at leisure, and fell into sin

D. To live for the eyes of the flesh smothers all sense of duty

1. It creates the mindset that life should be all fun and games ("YOLO")
2. Israel at the golden calf: 1 Corinthians 10:7 — "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play"
3. Samson in the land of the enemy, idol before his eyes, plays — and it is his destruction

E. Secret spiritual duties maintain our life with God

1. John Flavel: "Observed duties maintain our credit with men, but secret spiritual duties maintain our life with God"
2. Jesus instructs secret prayer (Matthew 6) and charges Peter, James, and John to watch and pray at Gethsemane
3. Mark 13:33 — "Be on guard. Keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come"

III. The Eyes of the Flesh Lead to Loss of Strength

A. Samson's physical feats are striking (carrying the gates of Gaza to the hill before Hebron), but his real weakness precedes any physical loss

1. The name Delilah also means "weakened" — Samson is weakened mentally, spiritually, and morally even while physically strong

B. The haunting climax: Judges 16:20 — "He did not know that the Lord had left him"

1. Samson gave all his heart to Delilah; the Lord departed
2. Judges 16 is the only chapter in the Samson narrative where the phrase "the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him" does not appear
3. Samson's strength was never in his hair — it was in the Lord; his hair was the symbol of his Nazirite consecration; cutting it symbolized cutting off God

C. Samson mirrors Israel — presuming on God's favor while living for the eyes of the flesh

D. The remedy points to Christ

1. Matthew 5:29 — "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out"; what happened physically to Samson must happen spiritually to God's people
2. The Philistines sought to humble Samson to overpower him — ironically, God uses Samson's humiliation to destroy the Philistines
3. So also through the humiliation of Christ the enemy is destroyed and put to open shame, and Christ pours out his Spirit to replace hearts of stone with hearts of flesh
4. A blind Samson, through the strength of the Lord, ultimately fulfills his duty — so also God's people, no longer living by sight, are called to live by faith, duty-bound to the humiliated and now exalted King who will come again