The Strength Of Commitment

A Season Of Stories

Judges 13 (read v. 1-5)

The Bible is a beautiful story filled with beautiful stories, and all of these beautiful stories are TRUE!

Thesis: God performed a miracle through Manoah and his wife by giving her a child although she was barren, and that child was Samson. God made him a Nazarite from before he was born so that Samson would fulfill God’s plan for his life to begin to free Israel from the Philistines.

Gaps

Israel is freed from Egyptian captivity

Cloud by day, pillar of fire by night

Parting of the Red Sea

Arrive at Mount Sinai

Wonder some more

40 years of wandering until “the faithless generation” dies

God provides for them (manna, water from the rock)

Moses dies before entering the land (striking the rock twice)

Joshua becomes leader and they enter the Promised Land

Time of conquest

Jericho falls

They receive the land God gives them

Judges

Similar to how we would think of a governor, but they more accurately were trying to do what Moses and Joshua did

Israel’s worst cycle

Sin

Oppression

Repentance/Cries out

God raises a judge to deliver them

Peace

Repeat

Samson (last judge)

Given supernatural strength to fulfill God’s will, to fight the Philistines because of their oppression

Introduction

Nazarite vow

“a special vow, the vow of a Nazarite, to dedicate himself to the LORD…” (Num. 6:2)

Nazarite - “one consecrated, devoted”

They purposefully were separated to the Lord for a time

Numbers 6

Three commitments of the Nazarite vow - they shall not:

“eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin”

Wine, grape juice, vinegar made from grapes, grapes, raisins

“no razor shall pass over his head”

“go near a dead person”

If they break any of these then they have to go and be cleansed in the temple by teh priests and the days they previously had are now “void”

God blessed Samson when he was a child but eventually Samson broke these commandments…

Killed a lion and ate honey from inside of it

Ceremonially unclean

Samson killed 30 men because they figured out the answer to his riddle by using Samson’s Philistine wife

“the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily”

Would have been expected to drink wine at his wedding celebration

300 foxes - adultery

Philistines burned his father-in-law and wife

Samson killed the Philistines who killed them

Went to live in the “cleft of the rock of Etam”

Killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey

Dead bodies

Ceremonially unclean

“the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily”

A Philistine shaved his head after Samson was tricked by Delilah

Then the Spirit left him

Nich Share His Testimony

Before I close us out, Nich is going to come up and share his testimony

“Love him or fear him you can’t help but be near him”

Three truths to take away from Samson’s life

God Is Patient With Samson

Samson was fully aware of His calling and role

He knew he was a Nazarite

God blessed him as a child

In all of Samson’s sin and unfaithfulness, God did not leave him until he fully broke his vow…

God Provides For Samson

God is the reason Samson was physically strong, but Samson was the reason he was spiritually weak

God blessed him and he still chased the desires of his flesh…

Women, feats of strength, revenge, etc.

God is the reason Samson made it as far as he did…

God Permits Samson To Face His Consequences

God lets Samson have what he wants… (he wanted his own way and he got it)

Samson told Delilah because he was annoyed…

Samson has his eyes gouged out and is not longer strong because the Lord is no longer with him

In prison as a grinder

God provides again…

Gives Samson strength one more time to topple over where the Philistines were assembled to sacrifice to their god Dagon

Announcements

DNOW Prayer

No 8am Prayer

Worship at 9am and LG at 10:30am

Chairs in the YA Wing

Stack them and put them to the side of the room