Samson: A Reminder to Be Careful How Your Live.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning…
I hope and pray that you all are well.
I hope you have enjoyed your week and I pray along the way you were able to serve our Lord well this week.
It seems that a week doesn’t go by that we aren’t faced with decisions, challenges along the way that can serve to strengthen our lives if we allow it. But if we’re not careful, those same events can rule in us a different way. One that has nothing but defeat in store for us.
This morning I want to continue our servant series, being a good servant, a useful servant, a servant that at the end our days the Lord would say to us, well done, good and faithful servant.
I think you would agree with me that we must be careful in our walk before the Lord. We must be watching and praying as we live… because if we are not, if we are careless in how we live, we can fall prey to sin and end up defeated.
This morning, lets go back to the OT and lets examine the life of Samson. Judges 13-16
Now you might ask, why is Samson important. We was prepared for great things, but was defeated through careless living. He had great potential, he has great opportunity and he squandered it on himself.
God has created man for His glory. we get to enjoy and share this life with others, but the Scriptures remind us that we are not our own
I Corinthians 6:19b-20
“...You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
There is the truth of Scripture my friends, … glorify God in our body, in our life… each day and every day.
So lets look at Judges 13, verses 1-5 this morning...
1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
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As we open the text we see a terrible situation at hand, the children of Israel have done evil in the sight of the Lord, their sin is horrible and God has punished them by placing them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years....verse 1
But God is planting a man in the midst of the people to push back against the Philistines, but He isn’t a good and faithful servant of the Lord His God.
But in this text we are not going to see the victory we would like to see, instead we are going to see the need to be careful as you live and work in front of God.
My friends we must be careful as we live in and work, as we serve the Lord Jesus. We are the church, the ones who are called out, we are His servants, His workers and how we live and act in front of Him and each other is extremely important.
We must be careful...
So this morning, lets take a walk, a very practical walk, looking at the life of Samson, and see what we can learn from his life that is practical for us as the children of God.
So where can we begin...
1. Remember, We are to be Set Apart...
1. Remember, We are to be Set Apart...
My dear friends, it is crucial to remember, as a child of God, He has set us apart from the world, and we, each of us as a born again believer are called to come and be His servant.
When you examine the life of Samson, he was set apart by God himself. Let look back at the text and hear the words spoken to His mother.
Verses 3-5
3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
The angel speaks to this childless lady and tells her, she will conceive and bear a son. Because of this,(here is that word therefore - Becasue of this, you must do that) there are some precautions that must take place. You must not have any strong drink, and you cannot eat anything unclean. So the angel is telling her to abstain from anything fermented and to adhere to the dietary restrictions of the law.
Why… because the son she is carrying would be a Nazirite, and no razor was to come upon his head and this child would be God’s appointed agent in saving Israel from the Philistines/
Now here is what is interesting...
This young boy, Samson was set apart by God. And a Nazirite vow was placed upon his life by God himself.
You see a Nazirite vow was one that a person took upon their life voluntarily, they did it for a season to devote themselves to God for a particular reason or season in their life.
But here God has placed this office on Samson from the time he was in His mothers womb until death took his life, verse 7.
He was set apart for God and his purposes. He was consecrated, holy unto God. He would be the divine agent to save the people from the hand of the Philistines.
Just as Samson was set apart my friends I want you to know that you have been set apart for God’s purposes.
Just as God knew Samson from the foundation of the world, so God knows you.
The day you received Christ you were filled with the Holy Spirit, you were made holy in His sight (Covered by the blood) and God set direction before you.
You are to serve Him all the days of your life.
And as we walk with Him, each day we have the opportunity to grow in Christ and to be conformed into the image of Jesus a little more each day. You are His church and you are here for His purposes not our own personal fulfillment.
Let me ask you a question, What has he set you apart to do for His kingdom. we know we are to live for Him, to be a witness, to go and tell. And then you have a divine application for your life… why are you here for?
What task has God set you apart for...
You might be set a part to help shepherd the flock, to be a pastor, to be a preacher… Someone here God might be calling you to missions, to be a missionary? Maybe a teacher.... Maybe another role… What is God saying to you right now?
Don’t tell him you can’t or you won’t.... Instead tell Him yes, Lord, here am I, send me.
And now we come to a second thought for today
2. A Servant Cannot Live Carelessly....
2. A Servant Cannot Live Carelessly....
My friends here is a thought that we must pay careful attention to my friends. As the children of God we are called to live differently, to be different in this world.
God had expected the same from Samson, to be a leader that was different, to not only save the people physically from the hands of the Philistines, but to model a way of living in front of God as well.
But Samson lived carelessly, he disregarded the purpose God had for His life. He lived for His own pleasure, selfishly and without regard to God. Let me share three things we can see from the text about His life...
The very first thing you can see from the text is a forbidden wife.
A. A Violation of the Law
As Samson was traveling one day, the Bible tells us that a young lion attacked him on the way to take for himself a wife from the Philistines. Now one would expect that to be a terrible situation for Samson, but the Scriptures tell us that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him and Samson literally tore the lion to pieces.
Now the Bible says that some days later, he came back by that way and saw a swarm of bees in that carcass. Now this is really unnatural, a dead carcass was really something for flies and maggots. But it appear that God may have accelerated the state and dried out the carcass so it would be a hospitable place for the bees as a test to Samson.
But upon seeing the bees, the sweet honey that they produce, Samson reached in and ate some of it.
Samson failed this test, for the law says plainly that any person was not to touch a dead thing. , Leviticus 11:24-25 tells us that touching any dead thing would declare that person unclean.
Numbers 6:6 reminds us that a Nazirite was to remain holy to the Lord and not go near any dead thing. He was consecrated unto the Lord, Holy unto Him and Samson has no regard chasing after the satisfaction of his own desire.
Samson scrapped some out and ate it and even gave some to his parents, defiling them Judges 14:9.
My friends He failed the test upon his life, you see Samson was prepared for greatness, for more than those momentary pleasures of the flesh, yet He desired one more than the other. He desired His pleasures over the will of God.
Here is a question for you to consider, Do we do the same? Yes, I’m afraid we do..
We must remember we have been set apart my friends, we are His ...
Take a moment and ask God please reveal to me anything I have desired that was against you and your word.
Next, He desires a forbidden wife
B. A forbidden Wife - The Bible tell us that Samson saw and became infatuated with a Philistine woman. He desired her for his wife.
So what did Samson do… He asked His Father to arrange the marriage.
Now enter his parents, His father and mother brought the point to him verse 3.
3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
Now Samson parents were right, there were plenty of beautiful and good woman from among his own clan, the Danities and also from among the children of Israel. Why could he not find a wife from among His own people?
In fact the law of God forbid the taking of wives from foreign peoples, why? God loves everyone, why forbid it? It isnt the person so to speak , it is the tendency to be drawn away and to follow their own Gods.
There were commanded to follow the will of God for their lives and not the lust and desires of their hearts, that it might be well with them throughout the land.
We see in the moment, God saw across history what such relationships would do and how it would lead His people away.
The same is true for us today, young people if you want a good life, a good and pleasing life, follow the Lord, take for yourself a Christian wife or husband. Dont let lust defeat you and you think, I can change them … it hardly every happens. What does happen is they drag you down, lead you away from the Lord. Find a Christian spouse who loves the Lord like you do.
Parents you should be praying all the time for the Lord to bring a Christian man or woman to your children and grandchildren.
A relationship with a Philistine woman would only being hardship to the home.
Samson failed again… He did not honor the words of his parents, He did not honor them thus breaking the law.
His parents failed as well, they caved.. This son in their later years was so special they gave into his requests… They should have held their guns.
But the good news here is that God used Samson’s failure as a away to use his servant to strike the Philistines. Verse 4, the Lord took Samson’s desires and failures to use them for His good.
Now here is a word of caution.... Please my friends never look at our failures as a victory. The Lord can take us, and use us in spite of our sins at times… But it is better to live for God and put him first and see what He will do as we live for Him
But ask yourself, what if Samson had done right and took for himself a wife from among his own people, How would he had seen the greater blessing of God? Samson desired a forbidden wife.
And then the last thought to remind us to not live carelessly in front of God.
C. The pleasure of the flesh - Samson’s last failure was the pleasure of the flesh.
The pleasure for the right things are joys that are created by God, marriage, family, etc... but when violated, when distorted they ruin and break apart what God intends for good.
Samson found pleasure in a lady named Delilah, a woman was Gaza who was a prostitute there. Without a doubt she was beautiful, pleasing to the eye but a impure companion for man.
The Philistines saw this as a chance to defeat Him. And so they had Delilah push and push after Samson until finally Samson told her the source of His strength, It lay in His vow, his hair was to never be cut, it was to never be shaved… this was part of the rules for a nazirite.
But she wore him down and while he slept she cut his hair off and thus his Nazirite wow broken. listen to Judges 16, verses 18-21
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. 19 She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And 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 left him. 21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.
The old saying is true my friends, sin will always take you farther than you want to do and cost you more than you want to pay...
The Lord had left Samson, His strength was gone and he is imprisoned, a slave of the Philistines. He is weak, blind, a shell of who he was.. all because he entertained sin more than His walk with God.
Three failures that should remind us in all our ways to do our best in living in front of God. The ways of this world have a way of stealing our heart and and life from what matters most.
Now just one last thought my friends..
3. A Final Victory, But it was Shy of What Could Have Been...
3. A Final Victory, But it was Shy of What Could Have Been...
Samson’s life ends imprisoned, he is not a ruling judge of Israel, he is a slave to the Philistines. He is pushing the the stone wheel that grinds the kernels of wheat and barely into flour.
How very sad...
But the Bible goes tell us that His hair begins to grow… v 22.
Now the Philistines, well they thought they had the last laugh over Samson and over the Israelites and they are having a great feast, v.23 in chapter 16 says that the many lords, rulers of the Philistines have gathered together for this great celebration.
Now the Philistines began to party, they are celebrating the defeat of Samson, the one who killed many of them, they have triumphed over. They praised their false gods for giving Samson over into their hands and to even rub it in more, they had their guards bring Samson out of the prison.
So they placed the blind, once champion of Israel between two of the pillars what held up the house that held this massive building, the house were they were celebrating in.
And Samson has one last plan… a young boy is with Him Samson ask the boy to place him in between the pillars that he might rest there.. On the roof was about 3000 nobles of the Philistines...
And then Samson cries out to the Lord, our only recorded prayer that he prays..
Verse 28
28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”
Even in this day, his prayer isn’t for God’s glory bur for his eyes being put out… but the Lord hears and will use Samson one more time to defeat the Philistines.
verses 29-30
29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.
Samson places his hands on the pillars and pushes, and the pillars fall, the house crumbles, and that day Samson dies and with him more philistines than he had ever killed during his previous years.
Now this victory, while it a win, it’s a sad one, a dim picture of the victory that could have been if Samson had lived for God and had been obedient in His calling...
Verse 31 says he judged for 20 years, it could have been longer, better… but sadly his life is marked with more failure than victory.
Here’s a question,
1. What will your life be marked by?
A. victory and success as you walk with God
or....
B. Sadness and loss as you fail to walk with God.
I see so many what could have beens in our communities and world. But for the joy of sin, pleasure for a season and disobedience all is ruined.
As a child of God we must be careful about hos we live, how we act and how we serve.
Stop right now and ask God to examine your heart… what’s there. and if there is something not right, impure, unholy, … ask Him to remove it, to forgive you, to help you begin to walk again in His mercy and grace
In this, freinds you can have life.
Pray...
Remember you are set apart
You cannot live carelessly
Defeat will be your only outcome
1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”
8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.” 16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) 17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” 18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” 19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” 24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.