A Right Response To Wrong (Judges [15]1-8)
A Right Response To Wrong
Text: Judges 15:1-8
Place Preached - (Mississauga International Baptist Church)
Date Preached - (04/14/02)
Introduction:
One outstanding feature of studying Samson’s life is that we learn "How we can avoid wasting our life?"
ILLUS: Every once-in-a-while someone has the gall to tell me I am losing my hair.
I try to come up with some sort of a come-back to that, but the problem is – I am losing my hair.
That’s just one of the many reminders that God gives us that time isn't standing still.
There's nothing we can do about the fact that time is marching by.
But we can do something about how we use that time.!!
We can do the kind of things that will prepare us to give a good account at the judgement seat of Christ.
We can CHOOSE to redeem the time, knowing that the days are evil.
We can learn to number our days, and to apply our hearts to wisdom.
We've been looking at the life of Samson.
Here's a man who had tremendous gifts / tremendous opportunities / whose life could have made a difference / could have had a tremendous impact on God's people -- and God's purpose -- and God's program
But sadly, Samson wasted it. - Samson squandered it.
What have we learned thus far?
1) You avoid wasting your life by benefitting from the spiritual influence God places around you.
The Lord gave Samson godly parents, and -- he despised them.
2) You avoid wasting your life by learning to handle victory.
The Lord allowed Samson to supernaturally kill a lion.
But Samson's response to that victory took him in exactly the opposite direction that God intended.
3) Tonight's principle is -- you avoid wasting your life -- by responding right, when you've been wronged.
Remember, Samson had gone down to Timnath and married a Philistine woman.
He was willing to sin in this way because he said "I have seen a woman." And “she pleaseth me well”. (Ch. 14:2-3)
He had a drunken party with 30 Philistine men, during which time he told them a riddle with a bet of 30 expensive garments.
They couldn't figure out the answer in 3 days, so they threatened the woman that Samson was about to marry -- saying "find out the answer to the riddle or we're going to kill you and your family."
This godless Philistine woman pressed Samson daily to tell her the answer to his riddle
1) so Samson told her and she told the Philistine men
2) the Philistine men gave the answer to Samson
3) so Samson went out, killed thirty men, stole their garments
- paid off the bet, and went home.
Here's the man who's supposed to be the judge of Israel / supposed to be Israel's deliverer
So far all you see him doing is sinning / wasting his time / wasting his energy / wasting God-given opportunities.
Do things change in chapter 15? - READ VERSE ONE
Now picture this scene.
Do you remember the last words this woman would have heard come out of Samson's mouth?
(Judges 14:18 -- "If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.")
It's safe to say that this woman is probably not very happy with Samson about now.
The fact that Samson left before the wedding was completed would have been a great disgrace to the bride
Samson attempts to make everything right (and undoubtedly satisfy his lusts)
So he shows up with a young goat.
Apparently, this is before the days of florists. (Humor)
I'm not sure how the wife would respond to this -- somehow, "I'll get a vase and put this in water doesn't seem appropriate."
But anyway, Samson comes back to Timnath to make up with his bride and complete the wedding ceremony.
READ verses 2-8 - Unfortunately, Samson continues down the same path of sin.
You want to jump into this text and grab Samson by the shoulders and say, "Samson, don't you realize you're wasting your life?"
There's no question that Samson was wronged -- But, Samson never learned how to respond right -- when he was wronged.
· To use that as an opportunity to please God
· To use that as an opportunity to evaluate the path he was on
· He never used it as an opportunity to grow...
There was only one word that came to Samson’s mind when he was wronged----and what was the word? (REVENGE)
Now let me ask you this...is Samson the only person who struggles with seeking revenge?
Is he the only one who wants to get even when he's wronged?
Is he the only one who thinks..."I'll get you back"
Lets work on that together for a moment – Let’s make sure we're applying these important principles to ourselves.
What are some situations in which people are tempted to seek revenge.... And what are some ways in which we do it?
In the time we have left, I'd like us to see some important reasons why vengeance is wrong.
I. Vengeance is Wrong Because it Places Our Desires over God's Purposes
God had reasons to allow this event to occur in Samson's life.
God always has a definite reason for what He allows to come into a person's life.
The text doesn't tell us specifically what those reasons are, and often times in life we don't know them for sure.
However it is possible that God’s purpose may have been…..
1) to prevent Samson from making a wicked marriage choice.
The Lord had warned Samson in the Scripture.
The Lord warned him about that again through the ministry of godly parents.
Had Samson spent one minute thinking Biblically and asking the right questions -- perhaps he would have come to senses and realized that God had been very merciful by over-ruling his wicked choice of a mate.
2) to cause him to see the wickedness of Philistines "up close and personal."
These Philistines were brutal - there was a reason why God wanted people like this driven out of the promised land.
The book of Judges was about Israel's incomplete obedience in carrying out that task.
So the Lord raised up judges...
They were supposed to organize the people to do what God wanted and they were to be the deliverers of God's people.
But Not Samson…
Instead of fighting the enemy, he was lusting after them
Instead of fighting the enemy, he was making friends with them
Instead of fighting them, he was telling them jokes and riddles
This event could have been the very event that caused Samson to rise up and accomplish the work God called him to do...
1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
All through the rest of this passage(I Peter 2& 3) are examples of people who have others in their life behaving in an evil way…
1) citizens with imperfect government
2) slaves with cruel masters
3) wives with sinful husbands
4) husbands with wives who were hard to understand
Peter begins that discussion with the warning that we must abstain from the lust that wars in our souls to get even….
- to get our piece of flesh / to settle the score / to come out on top
Samson didn't take time to consider God's purposes.
If we do not control our minds and hearts with biblical truth, we can be driven by all sorts of lusts and desires that don't please the Lord.
Among other lusts, Samson was ruled by the desire to do what he wanted to do - by the lust to get even...He wanted revenge.
Vengeance is wrong because it places our lusts over God's purposes.
Is there a person in the auditorium tonight who would say, "I never struggle with this area?"
When someone wrongs me, I always stop and ask what God is trying to do / I always pray / I'm always very careful about my response
No, I'm sure no one here tonight would say that. Undoubtedly, we're all at different points in the process.
Vengeance is wrong because it places our lusts over God's purposes.
II. Vengeance is Wrong Because It Causes Us To Justify Sin
Over here in Judges 15, one of the clear points the text is emphasizing is that Samson is working hard to justify his actions.
Verse 3 - "Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure (do them harm)".
Verse 7 - he says, "Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease." (which, by the way, the rest of the passage shows that’s another promise he broke.)
Of course Samson did know right from wrong.
Now he usually chose to do wrong anyway.
Remember when he got the honey from the lion. - Did he know that was wrong? (Yes)
How do we know that he knew it was wrong? (because he didn't tell his parents)
He says in chapter 15:3 -- now this time, I'll be blameless regarding the Philistines - which indicates he knows he wasn't blameless before.
Going down the revenge trail clouded his thinking. - revenge causes us to justify sin.
You and I need to be very careful of the words, "I had a right to..."
Often times the words that come next are not really true - the second half of that kind of sentence often doesn't please the Lord.
Men and women have struggled with the tendency to justify sin since the beginning of time.
ILLUS: Adam & Eve Blameshifting
The point is -- when you and I are seeking revenge, it won't be long till we're justifying sin.
Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked and even under ideal conditions -- it's hard to see what is sinful and what is not.
The path to revenge was never designed for human occupation. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.
Human beings are completely ill-equipped, in the context of revenge, to clearly see what is right and wrong.
And while we're talking about this, human beings are also completely ill-equipped to meet out appropriate vengeance.
In fact, let's try a test: - Let's say you have two cases...
1) One person over here has actually denied Christ on three different occasions.
2) On the other side, we have some teenagers who were making fun of a man and calling him a bald head.
Who would you take vengeance on more severely? Most of us would say -- on the man who denied the Lord.
Where am I going with this? Some of you already know.
Jesus Christ treated the man who denied Him to a fish breakfast, and gently urged Him to repent and be restored.
While the mocking teenagers in II Kings 2 were met by two she-bears whom the Bible says mauled 42 of the youths.
We look at that and say -- I don't understand that - thats exactly the point - we're not smart enough to take appropriate revenge.
Only God has access to all the information necessary to make the right decision on this matter.
Only He knows the heart / only He knows the person's past / only He knows the future.
Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
III. Vengeance Is Wrong Because It's Acting Like Those Who Don't Know The Lord
Samson was no better than the Philistines.
You can't tell any difference between him and the people around him who didn't know God.
If that’s the way a person who doesn't know the Lord wants to act, thats one thing.
But Samson was supposed to be a representative of God.
But you can't lead anybody in the way of salvation if you're not letting the way of salvation affect your life.
Here's one area of life where a believer in Jesus Christ can let their faith shine.
A good question for every one of us to ask tonight is -- "Am I learning to respond right -- even when I've been wronged?"
Is there a clear difference between the way I handle this area of life, and the way those who don't know the Lord handle it?
IV. Vengeance Is Wrong Because It's Unlike Our Savior
LOOK UP & READ I Peter 2:21-25
We're talking about the kind of lifestyle that is only possible because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If you're here tonight and you don't know the Lord, it would be impossible and frustrating to try to do.
This isn't surface behavioural modification.
This is radical transformation of heart that only occurs when a person comes to a definite place in their life when they repent of their sin and trust Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
If any man be in Christ...he's a new creature. (II Cor. 5:17)
Apart from a personal relationship with God, lasting change of this magnitude is impossible.
In order to handle it right when you've been wronged, you've got to be willing to crucify yourself.
You've got to put to death selfish desires, and goals, and motives.
You've got to put to death selfish words, and attitudes, and actions.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Conclusion: (Review)