Mr. Incredible

Intro

Judges is a book that doesn’t have an author named but tells the story of God’s people after the death of Joshua. There is no clear leader for the Israelites and they have a task set before them to clear the land of the foreign people who could and will pervert who they are spiritually. There is an interesting cycle that begins to happen with the people of God in Judges and that is that the people, due to lack of leadership, forget God, fall into worldly practices, become subject to evil nations, realize their faults, cry out to God, God saves them, they become righteous again, and then repeat the same process. This book outlines the different Judges or governors who God uses to be deliverer or saviors of His people. Today we will examine the life of one Incredible judge Samson who will face off with a familiar foe the Philisitines.

The Incredible Nazarite Judge

A Brief History of Who Samson Was

Israelites are evil, God punishes them.

Judges 13:1 CSB

1 The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines forty years.

Samson’s Mother is visited by angels

Judges 13:2–5 CSB

2 There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; 5 for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

Samson is born and is INCREDIBLY Strong!

Judges 13:24–25 CSB

24 So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 Then the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in the Camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson is to be two things in the eyes of God.

Nazarite

Judge

Zorah is given a strict diet at the announcement of her upcoming pregnancy. She is to follow a strict Nazarite diet.

What is a Nazarite?

Nazarite: Comes from the word nazir which means “to separate”. A Nazarite was to separate himself unto God. He was to put the WILL of God first. And there were rules that followed.

Abstinence from wine and strong drink.

A Nazarite HAD to be in their RIGHT mind! And you had to have your desires under control! You cannot be about God’s will if you cannot control your own will.

Numbers 6:1–4 CSB

1 The Lord instructed Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When a man or woman makes a special vow, a Nazirite vow, to consecrate himself to the Lord, 3 he is to abstain from wine and beer. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or from beer. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins. 4 He is not to eat anything produced by the grapevine, from seeds to skin, during the period of his consecration.

A Nazarite was someone who would be someone who was in their RIGHT mind!

No haircuts

Abstinence from wine and strong drink.

This one may seem a bit silly and the practice of having haircuts was not something normally practiced by Jews. But the internal appearance of the heart and the external appearance mattered. How you are perceived by others outside of God matters.

Numbers 6:5 CSB

5 “You must not cut his hair throughout the time of his vow of consecration. He may be holy until the time is completed during which he consecrates himself to the Lord; he is to let the hair of his head grow long.

They shall not come into contact with the dead.

No haircuts

Coming in contact with dead people would sever his relationship with God. He could not approach God if he was unclean.

Numbers 6:6–8 CSB

6 He must not go near a dead body during the time he consecrates himself to the Lord. 7 He is not to defile himself for his father or mother, or his brother or sister, when they die, while the mark of consecration to his God is on his head. 8 He is holy to the Lord during the time of consecration.

They shall not come into contact with the dead.

A Nazarite who took the vow or were lifelong Nazarites like Samson had to be concerned with being internally righteous, externally righteous, and have a living relationship with God.

This recipe of attributes and character was just right in order for Samson to be an INCREDIBLE man! If Samson would hold onto this standard set by God it would take him from being an ordinary singular man and propel him to be a leader of mankind! As Judge/Governor it would be his task to overcome the Philistines in order to free God’s from the spiritual cancer which was the Philistine influence and oppression. He being God’s Incredible man would help to bring God’s people back into relationship with God!

BUT

Samson fails at being a Judge and Nazarite...

Control of desires/self?

Judges 14:1–3 CSB

1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young Philistine woman there. 2 He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.”

Sever Relationship with God by touching the dead?

Judges 14:5–9 CSB

5 Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, 6 the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Then he went and spoke to the woman, because she seemed right to Samson. 8 After some time, when he returned to marry her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.

Cut his hair?

Judges 16:4–5 CSB

4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. 5 The Philistine leaders went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

Judges 16:18–21 CSB

18 When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: “Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth.” The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the silver with them. 19 Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him. 20 Then she cried, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When he awoke from his sleep, he said, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 21 The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.

We look at the responsibility that was given to Samson to be a leader of God’s people for the sake of humanity and we see his failures and we shake our heads and may even call him names. But we as men of God have been called to be Incredible as well. We has men, husbands, fathers, and males in general have been called by God to be incredible in order to lead our families to salvation. We have been called by God to lead our families and mold them in a way so that when the world sees our families they see God!

Mr. Incredible

eph 5

Through Paul we see a letter written to a church in which he is explaining what it means to be lead and controlled by the Spirit. Being controlled by the Spirit is not something that just happens to your family on Sundays and Wednesdays, it begins in the home! It begins with the leadership of the Incredible men. You are not exempt if you don’t have an Incredible man at home because God provides Incredible men within the body. Turn with me to .

Ephesians 5:23 CSB

23 because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.

Ephesians 5:25–31 CSB

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. 27 He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. 28 In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 since we are members of his body. 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

eph 5 25-

The husband makes the rest of the body parts productive & functional

Jesus Christ set the example for what how the church would prove to be obedient to the father. The husband must do the same for the family.

The husband sets an example of love through sacrificial action

Jesus gave His life so that the church could have what it NEEDED.

The head sets an example of love through sacrificial action

The husband cares for the body tenderly because the body is his own

The husband must feed the wife

emotionally

The head cares for the body tenderly because the body is his own

physically

spiritually

The husband cares about the presentation of the body, especially to God

The head cares about the presentation of the body, especially to God

The husband will make sure the wife is sanctified or set apart for the purposes of God.

Paul gives husbands and fathers a great set of responsibilities to live by but one that IS possible with the Holy Spirit. If you have the Holy Spirit then it is possible to be Mr Incredible! But what happens is that we choose often times to follow the path of Samson.

Samson in Reality

We don’t protect our hearts or control our desires.

The only way to safeguard your heart from finite things we desire is to fill it with the infinite. Study and Obey starting at 19

We must commit to not feeding our humanity

We don’t commit to God externally for the world to see.

The world cannot see that we are committed to worship or Bible study

The world cannot hear God in our speech

We allow dead things to sever our relationship with God.

We allow the nonliving to become our god

drugs/alchol

jobs

d

We have the ability to be Mr Incredible! But it is whether or not we want to be obedient to God’s plan. Just He did with Samson God shows us how to be Incredible. When Samson disobeyed God he soon realized that his greatness came from God. We who taste and see how good God is and the benefits that come with that obedience will think that we did it all by ourselves. Samson lost his freedom and his eyes. Husbands are losing their families...

An Incredible Man’s Sobering Truth

Judges 16:21–30 CSB

21 The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison. 22 But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved. 23 Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said: Our god has handed over our enemy Samson to us. 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god and said: Our god has handed over to us our enemy who destroyed our land and who multiplied our dead. 25 When they were in good spirits, they said, “Bring Samson here to entertain us.” So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars. 26 Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.” 27 The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. 28 He called out to the Lord: “Lord God, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.

Samson had to lose his eyes in order to see what made him Incredible in the first place.

He was not incredible for his own purpose or design. He was Incredible so that others could see and Incredible God!

God had a purpose the whole time for Samson as a Nazarite Judge he was to deliver God’s people! Watch how God will take disobedience and recklessness and make it align with his purpose.

Judges 14:2 CSB

2 He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

judg 14

Judges 14:4 CSB

4 Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord, who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation. At that time, the Philistines were ruling Israel.

judg 14

Even in his disobedience God’s will was still done. Samson had the ability to choose whether God was working through him on in spite of him.

Judges 16:30 CSB

30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.

Samson could have been a better leader. He got it at the end even though he died a terrible death.

A Sobering Truth For Husbands & Fathers

The plan for you to be Mr. Incredible has been laid out for us clearly in God’s word.

Will you obey?

Will God work through you or in spite of you?

Conclusion

Every family according to God’s design needs an Incredible man. Will we choose to be Mr. Incredible for our families? We must use the Holy Spirit we have in us, for it will enable us to raise families and love our wives the way that Christ loved the Church. Being Mr. Incredible is not just for you but it is for all.