Judges 16:18-21

Introduction

Samson was a man of great strength and great promise. The strength of his arms were only surpassed by the strength of his..... Samson was a Nazarite which meant that he was in covenant with God. And when you consider the covenants of Scripture you must understand that all the covenants between God and man are "Grace Covenants". They are such because it is only by grace that an All-powerful God would be willing to meet mankind at the table of reason. For a covenant is the strongest form of aggreeement that can be made between two parties. And with someone in covenant with God, there is so much promise guarantee.

He Took His Relationship With God For Granted

If we are not careful as we progress and gain experiences with God, we will give in to the temptation of commonness. Our closeness to God should not cause us to become irreverant and lose the awesome wonder with which we beheld Him. There are those who have lost the lofty and high concept of God and have now degraded Him to a common employer who appreciate but to Whom you owe nothing more.

• And Samson lost that appreciation for God that gave him the benefits.
1. he just took for granted that everytime he needed God, He was there.
2. he knew that everytime the enemy showed up that God gave him a supernatural deliverance.

Don't Take God For Granted

What God is looking for is not an every-now-and-then type of relationship with us, but rather He seeketh communion, which is common union.

• The prevailing consensus seems to be that all God is good for now is to answer our prayers.
• But God desires truth in the inward parts.
• It is the consecration of our lives that God is most concerned.
• And while we are looking to God to give to us, the weight of this communion should push us to ask, "What am I giving to Him?"
• God desires our loyalty.
1. loyal to His standards and to His statutes.
2. loyal in our discipline.
3. for when we arrive at the point that our disciplines began to wain, we take Him for granted.
• Because we can come to church and just expect that because we are doing the physical requirements that God is appeased.
• But be careful that while you are shouting and rejoicing that it is heart worship and not just ritual.
• Be very careful that while we are functioning that we remember " The Father seeketh worshippers, who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth".

The Real Tragedy Of Samson's Life Was His Ritual Worship

Because of ritual worship, Samson stopped depending on the Spirit of God a long time ago. But because he was still functioning, and because it was just a ritual, he knew not when the spirit had departed from him.

• This should scare anyone who has gotten themselves in a place of complacency.....that you can be so caught up with rituals that you are operating with no Spirit and not even know it.
• Still shaking and shouting, not knowing that there is no Spirit in it.
• Ritual takes away the sincerity of the action.