Sermon Title:
Lessons from Failure: When Sin Becomes Bondage
How do you know if you are in bondage to sin.
(Samson — Judges 13–16)
13 Then the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so that Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. 3 Then the angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you [a]shall be with child and give birth to a son. 4 So now, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. 5 For behold, you [b]shall be with child and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. 7 And he said to me, ‘Behold, you [c]shall be with child and give birth to a son, so now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, and you shall not eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”
Manoah asked for the angel to return.
15 Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “Please let us delay you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” 16 And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Though you delay me, I will not eat your [d]food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to Yahweh.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh. 17 Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?” 18 But the angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is [e]wonderful?” 19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to Yahweh, and He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 Indeed, it happened when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife saw this, so they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 Now the angel of Yahweh did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh. 22 So Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh had desired to put us to death, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”
24 Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up, and Yahweh blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him in [f]Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Sermon title
How do you know if you are in bondage to sin.
Sometimes we fail not because we are weak—but because we are in bondage to sin.
We come this morning to one of the most well-known figures in all of Scripture—and yet one of the most misunderstood. His name is Samson. And if most people know anything about Samson, they know about his strength. They know about his long hair. They know about the time he killed a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey.
But if that’s all we see, we miss the point. Because the story of Samson is not primarily about strength. It is about bondage. And here is the truth I want you to see this morning:
Sometimes we don’t fail because we are weak… we fail because we are in bondage to sin. A new enemy dominates the land—the Philistines. They are not just raiders. They are not just invaders. They are settled. Organized. Advanced. They control territory, trade, and weapons. They are entrenched. And here is what makes this moment so dangerous.
What is spiritual bondage?
John 8:34 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
Romans 6:12
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body…”
Romans 6:16-17 Do you not know that when you go on presenting yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin [a]leading to death, or of obedience [b]leading to righteousness?
Romans 7: 21 I find then the [n]principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God [o]in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a captive [p]to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from [q]the body of this death? 25 [r]Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Bondage to sin often shows itself in very practical, everyday ways. It can look like someone who returns again and again to pornography, or who erupts in anger toward their family and then feels remorse, only to repeat the cycle. It may be the person who gossips even after repenting, or who begins to structure their life around hiding secret habits—avoiding accountability and becoming defensive when confronted. Sometimes it appears in the patterns we tolerate, like returning to toxic relationships, constantly consuming ungodly content, or keeping easy access to known triggers. Over time, the language begins to shift from conviction to resignation: “I’ll always have a temper,” “I just struggle with lust—there’s nothing I can do,” “That’s just my personality.” And perhaps most sobering, this bondage can exist alongside outward faithfulness—a person may be active in church, even leading others, yet privately lacking victory, living with ongoing guilt but no real transformation. That is the picture of sin not just as a struggle, but as a master.
Prayer
Points: You are in Bondage to sin when you forget your calling. You are in bondage to sin when you quit repenting of sin. You are in bondage to sin when you have no have no standard. you are in bondage to sin when you act on impulse. You are in bondage to sin when you can’t perceive the Spirit of God.
When I first sat down this week to look at the story of Samson, I read the entire story from beginning to end. It is a very familiar story. It’s one of those that shows up in Children’s Sunday School, and Vacation Bible School material repeatedly. It’s one of those stories that has been portrayed in movies and shows about the Bible. It is very colorful and dramatic. Even Elvis sang about “Samson and Delilah.” Fever
But when I reread it this time, a question came to mind that I had never considered before. Why did God seem to set Samson up to be this great deliverer, but then he falls dramatically, and doesn’t really deliver Israel from Philistine oppression?
Why did Samson have such a high calling?
Let me explain further what I mean. The story of Samson is set up as though there is coming a great deliverer. He is the 12th judge in Israel but let me tell you how all the previous 11 judges were introduced. We know nothing of Othniel except he is Caleb’s younger relative. All we know of Ehud is he is a left-handed Benjamite. All we know of Deborah was that she was a prophetess. All we know of Gideon is who his father is. All we know of Jephthah is his seedy past. And there are several judges for which we know nothing; Shamgar, Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon.
And with every one of them, they bring deliverance.
Judges 3: 10 And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to war, and Yahweh gave Cushan-rishathaim king of [h]Mesopotamia into his hand. So his hand was strong against Cushan-rishathaim. 11 Then the land was quiet for forty years.
Ehud: 29 And they struck down at that time about 10,000 Moabites, all robust and valiant men; and no one escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was quiet for eighty years.
After Deborah, And the land was quiet for forty years. After Gideon, 28 So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon. Even Jephthah, So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.
In most cases we are told that they brought some measure of deliverance. But all we get from Samson is that he killed a bunch of Philistines. The Philistines still ruled over Israel after Samson’s death.
And when you come to Samson, he has almost a Messianic introduction.
We just read how the angel of the Lord appeared to Samson’s parents, and announced that she would miraculously conceive this child. None of the other judges were called from birth. Also, his mother had been barren. That’s not an ordinary birth. There are only seven times in Scripture that God performs a birth miracle, of course the most profound is the virgin conception of Jesus. But not only was he the result of a miraculous conception, there was an angelic announcement to his parents. the Angel of the Lord. This kind of announcement only happened 4 times in Scripture; think of these three names and think of that old Sesame Street song, “one of these things is not like the other.” Angelic announcement to parents; Isaac, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Samson.
And so not only was his calling before his birth, his birth miraculous, but he was to live a life set apart from others. He was to be a Nazarite; for his whole life he would eat no grape products, not touching a dead body, no cutting the hair. Samson calling –Nazarite from womb---mother also must refrain from wine and unclean , Angel of the Lord announces Samson’s birth. Nazirite from the womb- she is to drink no wine-babies in womb, and nursing injest what their mother’s injest.
She has to be commanded not to an unclean thing- israel in a state of disobedience
What does wine and unclean symbolize? being set apart- a holy nation of priests and as Samson broke all his vows—Israel had broken all their vows- they were not set
Spirit of the Lord begins to move him. Key Truth: “He will begin to deliver Israel…” (13:5)
Not complete deliverance—just the beginning
And then after that, he would be a deliverer.
So, why did God set him up for what you might expect would be a great deliverance by a great deliverer, but the result was chump change? Well, the answer really sets us up for telling the story of Samson. I believe the reason God set Samson up as He did, was the story here is not just about a man. It is about Israel. Samson is the last judge in the book of Judges. After Samson the history of the book of Judges descends into chaos. The nation has gone off the rails. And Samson is kind of a parabolic picture of the history of Israel’s descent into chaos. He is an illustration of bondage to sin.
Samson is not just an individual figure in the book of Judges—he is a mirror. In many ways, he represents Israel in one man.
Israel also had a high calling.
Exodus 19:5–6 “You shall be My own possession among all the peoples… and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you… to be a people for His own possession…”
Leviticus 20:26 “You shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.”
Romans 9:4 4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, (they were adopted as the children of God) and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law (God gave them His Word and His law) and the temple service (God put His temple among them) and the promises, (the Messiah was promised to come among them) 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the [b]Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed [c]forever. Amen.
How do you know you are in bondage to sin?
When you have forgotten your high calling.
1 Peter 2: 9 But you are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul,
Hebrews 12: 14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord, 15 seeing to it that no one falls short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
There have been too many who call themselves Christian who forgotten their high calling. They suppose that this life puts no demands of holiness on them. They are saved by grace.
Ephesians 2: And you [a]were dead [b]in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the [c]course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the [d]mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead [e]in our transgressions, made us alive together [f]with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and [g]this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Point 2: you are in bondage to sin when you quit truly repenting
1 Then the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so that Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
Let’s start talking about repentance by talking about Israel. I want you to notice something else about this account of Israel’s failure. It is different this time that it has been before.
There is no crying out to God because of their oppression. There is no national repentance. It simply says,
Then the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so that Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. It never says that the nation cried out to God for deliverance or in repentance. Previously, the pattern had been that Israel sinned, then God sent an oppressor, then they cry out to God and repent. Remember this when we considered Jephthah?
Chapter 10:7 So the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. 8 And they shattered and smashed the sons of Israel [c]that year; for eighteen years they did this to all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan [d]in Gilead in the land of the Amorites. 9 Then the sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed.
10 And the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh, saying, “We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.”
15 Then the sons of Israel said to Yahweh, “We have sinned, so You, do to us whatever seems good in Your eyes; only please deliver us this day.” 16 So they removed the foreign gods from among them and served Yahweh;
So, on this occasion, remember that there were two oppressors; the Ammonites and the Philistines. God used Jephthah to deliver from the Ammonites. Other judges came after Jephthah. But the Philistines were not dealt with at that time. And the domination of the Philistines ends up being the longest oppression which the Israelites ever sustained.
What’s most important is that Israel didn’t repent.
This is the 7th time a phrase like, “Israel did evil again,” happens in Judges. 7-fold falling into evil. And after Samson it never occurs again. The pattern of the book changes from the cycle of deliverance, disobedience, cry out, deliverer to the remainder of the book which we could call the chaos section of the book of Judges
This is where the failure deepens— Not just sin… but bondage to sin.
And Samson is really a mirror of Israel.
Did you ever notice in the story of Samson that he was an individual, used by God, to be sure, but he was driven by the flesh. In chapter 14, he visits the Philistine city of Timnath, sees a good-looking Philistine woman, and asks his parents to arrange a marriage. In the same chapter, driven by his hunger he eats honey out of the carcus of a dead lion. In chapter 16, he visits a harlot in an enemy city, in the same chapter he succumbs to the wiles of Delilah which leads to his undoing.
We know that he is a character driven by the flesh. But also note that despite the fact that he often pays a dear price for his sins, we never see him repenting for his sins. The closest we come to repentance is in the end of his life where he prays that God will give him strength again, not for God’s honor, not because he is sorry for sin, but so he can get revenge for the Philistines blinding him.
A sure sign of bondage to sin is the absence of ongoing repentance in the life of a believer.
Demas is one of the most sobering examples of this reality. He is not introduced as an outsider, but as a fellow worker alongside Paul, a man involved in ministry and close to the work of the gospel. Yet when we come to the end of Paul’s life, we read in 2 Timothy 4:10 that “Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me.” There is no mention of struggle, no record of repentance, no indication that he fought to return—only that his love shifted. The pull of the world became stronger than his devotion to Christ, and instead of turning back, he walked away. That is what bondage to sin can look like: not always open rebellion, but a quiet drifting where the heart is captured by something else. And when there is no ongoing repentance—no turning, no grieving over sin, no returning to Christ—the direction of the life reveals the condition of the heart.
3. You are in bondage to sin when you have no standard.
Judges 14: Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 So he came back up and told his father and [a]mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, take her for me as a wife.” 3 But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your [b]relatives, or among all [c]our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
Now, let’s begin by explaining what the point means. You are in bondage to sin when you have no have no standard. There’s an old country song which says, “if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” What the song means is that a person has to have a standard, or a rule that they live by. It may be the ten commandments, it may be the golden rule, but in order to successfully navigate this life, and the situations that will confront you, you have to begin with some sense of what is right and wrong, and that will guide you.
Now Samson should have had that. He was born into the nation of Israel. They had God’s law. Laws like,
Deuteronomy 7: “When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and He clears away many nations before you,
You shall cut no covenant with them and show no favor to them. 3 Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your [a]daughters to [b]their sons, nor shall you take [c]their daughters for your [d]sons. 4 For [e]they will turn your [f]sons away from [g]following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and He will quickly destroy you.
He would have known this law when he asks his parents to arrange a marriage between himself and a Philistine woman. But God’s law isn’t even a passing thought to him. And he was a judge in Israel. Now, we must make note of verse
4 However, his father and mother did not know that it was of Yahweh, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
Upon reading that, you might think that God was approving this marriage. But we must remember that God uses both good and evil men. And just because God uses an evil man doesn’t mean He approves of the evil he does.
You remember how Joseph forgave his brothers who sold him into slavery. After God raised him to power in Egypt, and used him to save his own family, and Egypt, he said this, “
Genesis 50:20 “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…”
God used the treachery of Joseph’s brothers to fulfill His purpose. But that does not excuse his brothers. And Samson is not excused.
He also had a special calling to be a Nazarite from birth.
Numbers 6: 3 he shall abstain as a Nazirite from wine and strong drink;
5 ‘All the days of his vow as a Nazirite no razor shall pass over his head.
6 ‘All the days of his dedication as a Nazirite to Yahweh he shall not go near to a dead person.
The last one is important for our point. He was not to touch a dead body, even if it was a death in his own family. But look at what happens in
5 Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and they came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 And the Spirit of Yahweh [d]came upon him mightily, so that he tore it as one tears a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 So he went down and spoke to the woman; and she was right in the eyes of Samson. 8 Then he returned later to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. 9 So he scraped [e]the honey into his [f]hands and went on, eating as he went. Then he went to his father and mother, and he gave some to them, and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.
He eats honey out of the carcass of a dead lion; you would think that anyone would have a higher standard than that. But especially Samson, who was commanded from birth not to touch a dead body. Even though he has the greatest standard the world has ever seen, he seems to have no standard for what he considers right and wrong. He is driven by his desires.
Philippians 3:18–19 “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”
And Samson was just a mirror of what Israel had become.
Judges 2:11–12
“…they followed other gods… and bowed themselves down to them…”
Judges 2:17
“…they did not listen to their judges… but they played the harlot after other gods…”
Judges 2:19
“…they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers…”
Judges 17:6 “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.”
Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
And by the end of the book, the nation is following other gods, fighting within the tribes, involved in despicable sexual immorality.
You are in Spiritual bondage when you have no standard. It is amazing what has become acceptable under the standard of Christianity today.
Do you remember an illustration that circulated a few years back? It compared the most frequent infractions in school in the 40’s and 50’s to those of today? It illustrated a serious moral and societal breakdown? Remember
School Infractions Then vs. Now 🏫 Top Problems in Schools (1940s–1950s) Talking in class, Chewing gum, Making noise, Running in the halls, Cutting in line, Dress code issues
Top Problems in Schools (1980s–1990s and Later) Drug abuse, Alcohol abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, Rape / sexual assault, Robbery / theft, Assault, Gang violence, Weapons in school.
I thought, what if we created a similar comparison between churches in the 30’s and 40’s to todays churches.
What Was Preached as Sin Then vs. Now
🏫 Commonly Preached Sins (1930s–1940s Churches)
(Especially revivalist, holiness, and early evangelical preaching)
👉 Emphasis:
⚠️ What Is Often Called “Sin” (or Avoided) in Seeker-Sensitive / Self-Fulfillment Churches Today
(General trend—varies by church, but reflects a real shift noted in modern church studies emphasizing attractional models and therapeutic messaging )
And these things are as they are because of a departure from “the standard, both as a church, and as individuals.