“Finding Your Strength in God” : Strength in Spite of Weakness

INTRODUCTION.

Dr. Jerry Vines wrote “Don’t play with a rattlesnake because sooner or later it will bite you. Don’t play with sin because sooner or later it will bite you.”

MESSAGE.

I. Samson’s DEDICATION.

A. God had a purpose for Samson, to be a judge or a deliverer fro God’s people.

1. Through their disobedience God allowed them to go under Philistine rule.

Judges 13:5 NASB95

5 “For behold, you shall conceive 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 deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

2. Nazirite = one who is seperated and dedicated to God.

Numbers 8:1-8 specifies 3 specific things one must not do.

1. Abstain from wine or strong drink.

2. no razor shall pass over his head.

3. shall not go near a dead person.

REMEMBER THESE THINGS.

B. Samson’s Miracle Birth.

1. Samson’s mother was barren and God opened her womb to bring forth His judge.

Judges 13:2–3 NASB95

2 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 the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son.

2. The visit of the angel of the LORD.

this happened twice

1. to the woman.

2. to the woman and her husband.

This was the preincarnate Christ.

Judges 13:18 NASB95

18 But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”

When asked His name he said “it is Wonderful (peliy).

this is the same word found in Isaiah 9:6 “6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful (pele) Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” .

C. The indwelling of the presence f the Holy Spirit.

1. Samson born and blessed by God.

Judges 13:24 NASB95

24 Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the Lord blessed him.

2. Samson becomes the charismatic judge for Israel.

a charismatic - one filled with the spiritual give or Holy Spirit.

Judges 13:25 NASB95

25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

II. Samson’s DOWNFALL.

1. Lust - Eyes

“The eyes are the windows to the soul.”

Matthew 6:22–24 NASB95

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Samson’s lust led his life.

A. Marries a Philistine woman.

Judges 14:1 NASB95

1 Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.

Timnah is in the Philistine Territory.

1. “saw her” Judges 14:1.

2. “she looks good”

Judges 14:3 NASB95

3 Then his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she looks good to me.”

“is right in my eyes”

“pleaseth me”

3. Purpose is to deliver Israel from Philistines.

B. The Harlot.

1. “saw her”

Judges 16:1 NASB95

1 Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.

2. “went into her”

3. Not his wife

she was a female prostitute.

a woman who does sexual favors for money.

4. In Gaza - way down in Philistine territory.

C. Loves Delilah.

Judges 16:4 NASB95

4 After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

1. Valley of Sorek.

the boarder between Philistine territory and Israel territory.

In the Philistine territory.

2. Clouded Judgement - Fails to Guard his Heart.

A. Philistine Daughter.

1. marrying the enemy.

2. marries the Philistine daughter of the people he was to be a deliverer from.

B. The Harlot.

1. Sleeping with the enemy.

2. Fornication.

C. Delilah

1. From the very beginning he hears that she wants to bind and afflict him.

2. Three times she test him trying to hurt him.

3. Fails to guard his heart.

Judges 16:17 NASB95

17 So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

3. Pride.

1. Tells the enemy his heart (secret).

2. lives for self.

3. Thinks he will just use his strength for himself.

4. The consequences.

One of the most scary verses in all the Bible.

Judges 16:20 NASB95

20 She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

1. God’s presence had left him.

2. He was placed in the hands of the enemy with out the Strength of the LORD to fight or defend himself.

3. They gouged out his eyes and made him a grinder in prison.

Judges 16:21 NASB95

21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.

grinder was a woman’s job.

made a mockery of Samson.

4. Samson gave opportunity for the enemy to praise their god.

Judges 16:23 NASB95

23 Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.”

III. Samson’s DELIVERANCE.

A. His hair the sign of God’s presence grew back.

Judges 16:22 NASB95

22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.

B. Samson calls on the LORD.

He looks to God for his Strength.

Judges 16:28 NASB95

28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”

C. Samson kills more in his death than in his entire life.

Judges 16:29–30 NASB95

29 Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life.

When seeking God for his strength Samson is more successful than when using his strength for himself.

D. Samson taken home for burial.

Judges 16:31 NASB95

31 Then his brothers and all his father’s household came down, took him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years.

CONCLUSION.

Remember - Don’t play with snakes sooner or later they will bite you. Don’t play with sin sooner or later it will bite you.”

Samson’s Changes.

Samson’s life was guide by his sight and what was right in his own eyes turns to being blind having his eyes were gouged out and he lost his sight.

Samson would go and come at his own pleasure turns into a life of bondage and imprisonment.

Samson spent his life humiliating other turns into the one being humiliated.

Samson having the highest calling and ordained by god to be the one to deliver Israel turns to being the lowest position of grinding the mill in the prison.

We must look to God for our strength to fight our battles against the enemy.

The enemy is the devil.

Do not flirt with sin as Samson did by going into the Philistine territory.

Do not see how close you can get.