Judges: Faithful God — Broken People: The Shackles of Sin

Tonight we pick up the story of the last Judge in the Book of Judges. His name is Samson. He is one of the most tragic characters in the Bible. Samson is a “What-if-man” “What if” Samson had remained true to his Nazarite vow? “What if” Samson’s hedonistic impulses had not got the better of him. “What if” Samson had never met Delilah?

His story is the most complete of all the Judges, and perhaps the most tragic, It begins in chapter 13 with the story of his promised birth. Zorah and Manoah are from the tribe of Dan, and they are childless. The angel of the Lord appears to Manoah and promises that she will become pregnant and have a son. He is to be a Nazarite. The word means consecrated or separated.

A Nazarite was to abstain from wine, wine vinegar, grapes, raisins, intoxicating liquors, refrain from cutting the hair on one's head — in fact they couldn’t even comb their hair lest they pull hair out. Finally, they could not to touch anything that was dead since that would make them unclean. Normally a Nazarite vow was voluntary and for a limited period of time. After the vow was complete, the person would immerse himself in a ritual bath, and make three offerings: A burnt offering, a sin offering, and a peace offering. Their head would be shaved and the hair would be placed on the same fire as the peace offering. Some Nazarites were life-long Nazarites and Samson is one of those. Such a vow might be made for any number of reasons, but whatever the reason, it was meant to be a time of service and ministry to God.

Samson’s time as a Judge is significantly different than his predecessors.

God intends for Samson to be a Judge from his conception, “because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”” (, NIV84)

• He was a man who reveled in vengeance, “Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.” (, NIV84)

He was a man who reveled in vengeance, “Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.” (, NIV84)

• He will fight all his battles alone with a supernatural strength, “As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.” (, NIV84)

He will fight all his battles alone with a supernatural strength, “As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.” (, NIV84)

• He will lead Israel for twenty years, “Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.” (, NIV84)

He will lead Israel for twenty years, “Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.” (, NIV84)

Samson’s problem is that he doesn’t know how to tell himself “no”. As a result became a slave to his passions.

Samson is the picture the Christian who doesn’t take their sanctification of heart and life seriously. He is a picture of the Christian who pay only lip-service to their faith. To see what sin will do to you we merely need to look at what it did to Samson.

I. SIN WILL BLIND YOU

"Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison." (, NIV84)

1. the Philistines were the arch-enemy of the people of Israel

2. they were constantly raiding their land, burning their homes and killing the people

3. Samson had continually defeated them, which puts him on their most wanted list of Israelites to capture or kill

Israelites to capture or kill

a. with the help of Delilah they finally achieve that end

4. sin will also blind us

A. SIN WILL BLIND YOU TO THE SCHEMES OF SATAN

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (, NIV84)

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (, NIV84)

• “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (, NIV84)

1. how does Satan blind people?

2. The Devil Blinds People with Semantics

a. it's interesting how we have euphemized away sin in our society:

1) abortion is no longer murder — it's simply a woman exercising her right of privacy or terminating a product of conception

privacy or terminating a product of conception

2) homosexuality is merely a difference in sexual preference and an alternative life-style

life-style

3) fornication is "living together"

4) Illegitimate babies are "love children"

3. The Devil Blinds People to God's Truth

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (,).

a. the truth of the gospel is what sets people free

b. Satan attempts to blind people from that truth

4. The Devil Blinds People by Encouraging Participation in False Religion and False Religious Teachers

Religious Teachers

“There is a way which seems right unto a person, but the end thereof are the ways of death” ()

• “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (, NIV84)

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (, NIV84)

a. Satan attempts to get people to falsely place their trust in themselves, religion, or good works

good works

1) he wants people to feel religiously satisfied, but without having a saving knowledge of Christ

knowledge of Christ

b. Satan has servants who profess enough truth to join the church, and from inside teach what Paul calls “doctrines of demons”

teach what Paul calls “doctrines of demons”

1) they are, according to Jesus, wolves in sheep’s clothing

B. SIN WILL BLIND YOU TO THE VALUE OF YOUR SOUL

1. Samson was obviously more concerned with matters of the flesh then matters of faith

a. as a Nazirite he was under a special vow to God to restrain his carnal nature

b. he was to be disciplined and obedient to God, denying himself

2. but Samson only paid lip-service to his faith

a. when he was in trouble he would cry out to God

b. but most of the time he lived a life of self-indulgence

3. Samson did not understand the true value of his soul

a. neither do many in our society today understand the great value of their soul before God

God

ILLUS. Listen to these statistics. In a 70-year life span the average American will spend the following amount of time at the following activities:

spend the following amount of time at the following activities:

Sleep 3 years 32%

Work 16 years 22.8%

TV 8 years 11.4%

Eating 6 years 8.6%

Travel 6 years 8.6%

Leisure 4.5 years 6.5%

Illness 4 years 5.7%

Dressing 2 years 2.8%

Religious Activity ½ year 0.7%

b. so many things seem to take precedent over our soul and yet it is the only thing about us which has any eternal value

about us which has any eternal value

ILLUS. General Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "The urgent is seldom important, and the important is seldom urgent."

the important is seldom urgent."

1) too often life is controlled by the "tyranny of the urgent"

2) we put aside higher and more worthy goals and pay attention to the insignificant things of life

things of life

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (, NIV84)

5. sin will blind you to the value of your soul

C. SIN WILL BLIND YOU TO THE NEED OF A SAVIOR

1. a lot of people are open to reformation but not consecration

ILLUS. The year before I was saved I embarked on a major overhaul of my life — not that I thought I was all that bad to begin with. I curtailed my drinking. I virtually stopped using foul language. I got religious. I started praying more and even occasionally read parts of the Bible. But ya know what? In spite of all the reforms I was still lost and bound for hell.

2. what I needed was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ

a. the world says "clean up your life" while God says, “surrender your life”

3. sin will blind the lost to the need of a Savior — "Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza."

gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza."

II. SIN WILL BIND YOU

v. 21 " ... Binding him with bronze shackles ..."

1. there is no slave like the man who feels absolutely free to do as he pleases and does so — this is Samson

so — this is Samson

ILLUS. In an article by Dr, John A. Guido entitled The “Demanding” Generation — It’s the World at Fault” the California psychiatrist complained that four out of every ten teenagers and young adults who visited his medical center have a psychological sickness he can do nothing about. According to the Psychiatrist: "Each of them demands that his world conform to their own uncontrolled desires. Society has provided them with so many escape routes that they never have to stand their ground against disappointment, postponement of pleasure and the weight of responsibility — all forces which shape character." The psychiatrist concluded, "If their personality disorder persists far into their adulthood we will be a society of pleasure-driven people hopelessly insecure and dependent." The article appeared in the Los Angels Times newspaper ... in 1971!

The article appeared in the Los Angels Times newspaper ... in 1971!

2. there are generations of Americans who are shackled by uncontrolled desires

A. SIN BINDS YOU TO THE RECORD OF THE PAST

1. Samson's current situation was the result of a life unconcerned with the actions of yesterday

yesterday

a. Samson was a "live-for-the-moment" kind of guy

b. unfortunately, he never considered what the harvest of his actions would be down the road

the road

ILLUS. Toward the end of her life my maternal grandmother had a lot physical problems. In a meeting with the doctor, my mother inquired if there was anything that could be done for her. The doctor informed us that grandma's body was just worn out. It was worn out, not because she was advancing in years —she was only in her late sixties — but because she had so abused it with alcohol and tobacco and hard living when she was younger.

c. my grandmother's past was a life of riotous, self-indulgence and her later health was inseparably bound to that early life

was inseparably bound to that early life

2. her later life was bound to the record of her past

B. SIN BINDS YOU TO THE HELPLESSNESS OF THE PRESENT

1. Samson is helpless in his present condition

2. lost men and women are helpless in their present condition — there is nothing they can do about their lost condition that makes any difference before God

can do about their lost condition that makes any difference before God

ILLUS. Trying to earn your way into God's Heaven through your own effort is like trying to lift yourself into the air by picking yourself up by your bootstraps. It can't be done!

lift yourself into the air by picking yourself up by your bootstraps. It can't be done!

a. in , after cutting off his hair, Delilah calls out, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"

are upon you!"

b. Samson thought to himself, "I'll take care of this situation just like I always have."

" ... He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him." (, NIV84)

c. because of sin and rebelliousness, Samson found himself helpless to do any thing about his present situation

thing about his present situation

C. SIN BINDS YOU TO THE HOPELESSNESS OF THE FUTURE

1. Samson found himself in a hopeless situation

a. there was absolutely nothing he could do about his condition — he was trapped: He was hopeless

was hopeless

ILLUS. In his book Existentialism and Humanism, Jean-Paul Sarte, a contemporary French philosopher made one of the most hopeless statements I've ever read: "Man can count on no one but himself; he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth."

French philosopher made one of the most hopeless statements I've ever read: "Man can count on no one but himself; he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth."

2. the Scriptures are very clear

a. without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, sinners have no hope of eternal life in heaven

life in heaven

"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (, NIV84)

• "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (, NIV84)

"He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (, NIV84)

3. Sin will bind unbelievers

III. SIN WILL GRIND YOU

v. 21 " ... they set him to grinding in the prison."

1. do you see the picture here?

ILLUS. Samson is tethered to a long pole passing through a large, round vertical stone which rotates over a another stone lying flat. Between the two wheat or barley are ground into flower. It is the job of a slave. Around and around he treads day after day, grinding the grain. His life is forevermore the same. His captors are unforgiving. They taunt him as he trudges through the endless routine of his life.

which rotates over a another stone lying flat. Between the two wheat or barley are ground into flower. It is the job of a slave. Around and around he treads day after day, grinding the grain. His life is forevermore the same. His captors are unforgiving. They taunt him as he trudges through the endless routine of his life.

2. this picture defines the lives of lost sinners

a. let me give a more contemporary picture of this evening’s text

ILLUS. Charlie Brown is sitting in front of Lucy's psychiatric office. He's trying to get a perspective on his mundane life. Lucy looks at her patient and says: "You, Charlie Brown, are a foul ball in the line drive of life. You're often in the shadow of your own goal post. You're a miscue. You're 3 putts on the 18th green. You are a 7-10 split in the 10th frame. You have dropped a rod and reel in the lake of life. You're a missed free throw. You're a shanked 9-iron, a called 3rd strike, a bug on the windshield of life! Do you understand? Have I made myself clear?"

3. the result of a life lived in rebellion against God suddenly became very clear to Samson

Samson

a. just as he was doomed to grinding grain for life, life was grinding him into the dirt

ILLUS. L. Thomas Holdcroft, an 18th century English dramatist and poet, wrote: “Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up, depends on us.”

a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up, depends on us.”

1) if you’re a lost sinner, it will grind you down

2) if you’re a saved sinner, it will polish you up

4. Sin Will Grinds Unbelievers

Con. But Samson had a ray of hope. Verse 22 says: "But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved." As his hair began to grow Samson remembered his God.

Before sin does to you what it did to Samson you need to remember your God. You need to know that there is hope and forgiveness and salvation in Jesus Christ. But you must act now! God will not always continue to encourage you to come to him. The saddest verse in all the Bible is the last phrase of , "But he did not know that the LORD had left him."

God will not always convict. He will not always persuade. There comes a time when God removes His spiritual presence from a person's life and leaves him to his own course.

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