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Samson's Flaws and Vengeful Exploits 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning as we look at Judges chapters 15 and 16 verse 20 of chapter 16. And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. So he awoke from his0:22 sleep and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free, but he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. So these 2 chapters are a continuation of life story0:34 of Samson, which began in chapter 13. Samson gets a lot of coverage, 4 chapters out of the 21 chapters in the book of Judges. And Samson, thanks to, the children's Bible stories, is widely known.0:46 However however, he's far from a role model. He had some real issues. He was a man called by and equipped by God, but he lived a life of of drama and was eventually derailed by a lack of0:58 devotion to God and discipline over his own passions and desires. Samson, he lacked self control. He was self centered and rarely considered the impact his actions would have on1:10 others. His, great exploits of power, while used by God, were not for God. They were almost exclusively out of revenge or for personal1:22 interest. So in chapter 15, he goes back to Timnah to get his wife after he ran out on her months earlier after he lost that wager over the riddle. He gets there and he finds out1:34 that her father had given her to his best man, and he doesn't take the news well. Look at verse 4. Then Samson went and caught 300 foxes, and he took torches, turned the fox's tail to tail, and put a torch between1:46 each pair of tails. When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain as1:57 well as the vineyards and olive groves. Then the Philistines said, who has done this? And they answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Temanite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his2:09 companion. So the Philistines came and burned her and her father with fire. Now that was the same fear they had before when they were leaning on her to to get the answer to the riddle.2:21 So, they tracked Samson down. They come to arrest him. He goes and he hides, and, they they they track him down. They're gonna arrest him. His fellow Israelites agree not to harm him if he allows2:33 them to turn him over to the Philistines, so they do. And that leads to what happens in verse 15. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and therefore, it wasn't brittle, wouldn't break easy. He2:45 reached out his hand, he took it, and he killed 1000 men with it. Now the scripture makes it clear that God's power was upon Samson. So he ruled for 20 years,2:57 and we hear very little about that time period, that 20 years. Could he have been reformed? I I don't know. But chapter 16 does not suggest so unless he fell off the wagon.3:09 Chapter 16 begins with him visiting a prostitute in the heart of the Philistines. I mean, what more can you say? And and by the3:21 way, the Philistines at this time were Israel's principal opponent and impress oppressor. So, I mean, they were oppressing the Israelites. Now there are 2 different Hebrew words that are3:33 used for prostitute. 1 of them is for the, the temple prostitutes, Kadesh, and and then the the common variety3:45 prostitute, zona. This was, you have to excuse my Hebrew pronunciation. I think it's the closest I can get it. This was a, this latter version,3:57 which we see here, the latter Hebrew word, is just a woman of ill repute, just a regular prostitute. Now these first few verses reveal that devotion to the ways of god and the discipline4:09 to walk according to those ways are still missing, even though he had served as a judge for 20 years in Israel. There there is much to consider about, about Samson. God clearly4:20 called him and empowered him to lead. So how could someone like Samson be a leader when he couldn't even lead himself? I know. Well, we've seen that before. But4:32 here's a couple of thoughts. Samson reflected, I think, the spiritual and the moral state of the people at the time. I know we don't wanna hear this, but often our leaders reflect the character of our leaders reflect the4:43 character of the people. Also, it it didn't have to end the way that it did as we're about to read. Samson could have chosen to serve the lord, to walk in his ways, and he could have been a great4:54 leader. And had had he used his god given gifts and abilities for the glory of god, I've seen some very talented and gifted leaders, but they have not used those gifts5:07 and talents for the lord. And it's a choice that we make no matter where we are in life, no matter what where we are in society. God has gifted us, and we can use those gifts for him5:18 and as we yield ourselves to him. Alright. Verse 4 chapter 16. Afterward, it happened that he loved the woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lordsDelilah's Deception and Warnings on Passion 5:30 of the Philistines came up to her and said, entice him and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him that we might bind him to afflict5:42 him, and every 1 of us will give you 1100 pieces of silver. That's a lot of money. So Delilah said to Samson, please tell me where your great strength lies and what would5:54 and what you may be bound to afflict you and with what you may be bound to afflict you. Now, I mean, that should be a warning sign. Alright?6:06 And Samson said to her, if they bind me with 7 fresh bow strings not yet dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man. So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her6:18 the 7 fresh bow strings not yet dried, and she bound him with him. Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room, and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. But he6:30 broke the bow strings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. Now 1 episode of this should have been enough to6:42 alert Samson to her intentions, but this happens 3 times. I mean, he was a judge without good judgment. Right? Had he become6:54 complacent, and taken for granted the power that god had given him, thinking it was his and nothing could separate him from his strength? You know, we must constantly remind ourselves that our7:06 gifts and the and the the power that we have as followers of Christ cannot be enjoyed apart from him. It is the holy spirit dwelling within us that gives us7:18 the power to live the Christian life, to do the ministry or the and and I say ministry. I mean, just living as a Christian. See, the the we often think7:30 of ministry. We think of those in in positions of ministry, pastors, full time Christian leaders. The Bible says that that that those are the ones who equip the saints for the work of the ministry.7:43 We're all in the ministry, and the power to do that comes through the Holy Spirit within us. But if we choose thinking somehow this power belongs to us, we choose to walk contrary to7:54 God. We're not gonna have the power and the authority. Verse 15, then she said to him, how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these 3 times and have not8:06 told me where your great strength lies. And it came to pass when she pestered him pestered him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was to death. I mean, my8:18 question is this, why did he not leave at that point? I mean, this guy, he was blinded by unbridled passion. I'm just8:30 gonna say sex is the downfall of many powerful men. It it really is. And this is this is a part of the, you know, the unsanctified living. This is why we need to be sanctified8:42 as followers of Christ. And Jesus I've I've mentioned this last week in John chapter 17. Jesus prayed for us, and this is something we can pray8:54 in agreement with Jesus as he is our intercessors. Lord, father, sanctify them by your word. Your word is truth. We need to be sanctified by the word of God. Listen listen to what Paul writes in first Corinthians9:06 chapter 6 verse 18. Flee sexual immorality. Flee. Don't entertain it. Flee. Run from it. Run from it. Every sin9:18 that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. There's something different about sexual sin.9:30 Verse 19, or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price, therefore, glorify God in your9:42 body and in your spirit, which are God's. Now look look at look at what he writes Paul writes in chapter 10 verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you except such9:54 as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make up the way of escape that10:05 you may be able to bear it. God is not gonna put us in fact, you know, as he is the lord taught his disciples to pray, deliver us from10:17 evil. Deliver us from those lead us not into temptation. That is not God's heart for us. He's testing us as to what choices we would make. And here's the good news. Alright? Somebody needs to hear10:29 this this morning. So maybe, you know, Samson, at at any point at any point, he could have said, you know what? I'm done with this. I wanna follow the Lord.10:42 God is so forgiving and gracious. And and, you know, Proverbs says that a righteous man falls 7 times, but he gets back up. He may stumble. You may stumble,10:54 but you don't make it a lifestyle. When you stumble, that's not a lifestyle. Choosing to stay there is a lifestyle. And the Lord is ready, willing, able, and11:05 cannot wait to to forgive and to restore. Alright. Let's go back to Samson, who could have been the main character in any number of shows or moviesBetrayal, Capture, and Humiliation 11:18 of, that we see today. Verse 17, that he told her all of his heart and said to her, no razor has ever come upon my head for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb, in name11:30 only. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man. When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and11:41 called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, come up once more, for he has told me all his heart. So the lord of the Philistines came the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand.11:52 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees and called for a man, and he had shave and had him shave off 7 locks of his head. Then she began to torment him. What what love? And his12:04 strength left him. And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. So he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had departed12:15 from him. Then the Philistines took him, put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze feathers, and he became a grinder in the prison.12:28 Now the cutting of his hair was the last of the 3 requirements of a Nazarite vow that Samson violated. He revealed the source of his strength. He gave his strength to women. And12:39 I I I have to think of the author of Proverbs 31 3. I may have been pondering Samson's story, Verse 3 of chapter 31 of Proverbs, do not give your strength to women nor your ways to12:51 that which destroys kings. Blinded by his unbridled passion, Samson becomes a captive of the very people God had13:03 called him to deliver his nation from, all because of his personal choices. But it doesn't stop with our own humiliation. Yes. He was humiliated. Eyes were put out. He was put into the prison13:15 grinding at a mill. It it it it does more than that. It gives the enemies of God the opportunity to praise their demonic idols,13:27 their power, and to mock God. Look at verse 23 chapter 16. Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said,13:39 our god has delivered into our hands Samson, our enemy. When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and13:51 the 1 who multiplied our dead. There is a warning for us in the life of Samson. It does not take much when we feed the passions of our human nature to end up14:03 blinded to the plans of the enemy. We see the folly of Samson and of the children of Israel so clearly on the pages of scripture, but we often miss it in14:14 our own lives. How do we keep from that happening? We must stay in the word and in the presence of God. Father, we thank you for your word, and weLessons: Abide in God's Word 14:26 thank you that it is through your word that we're sanctified, that we're we're we're kept apart from these very things that are around us enticing us and drawing us away from you.14:39 Lord, we we the only way to abide in you and to have the power is to to be in your presence, in your word. So, lord, continue continue to lead us. We pray for the holy14:50 spirit to guide us on this journey, opening our eyes and our understanding to the truths of your word and how they apply to our lives in this world around us, and we thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen.15:03 Alright. I hope you have a great day, and until next time, keep standing on the word.15:11 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan, available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you15:22 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at f r c dot o r g slash bible.In this video 0:00 Samson's Flaws and Vengeful Exploits5:24 Delilah's Deception and Warnings on Passion11:11 Betrayal, Capture, and Humiliation14:16 Lessons: Abide in God's Word
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